ASPECTS 


EDWARD  HALEBIERSTADT 


ASPECTS  GF-'^-;^"----^ 
AMERICANIZATION 


By 
EDWARD  HALE  BIERSTADT 


With  a  Foreword  by 
AMELIE  RIVES 

(Princess  Troubetzkoy) 


"God  gave  the  fish  freedom  in  the  sea,  and  the  birds  all  over  the  earth, 
but  from  a  man  they  always  want  some  sort  of  papers." — A  Polish  Immigrant. 


CINCINNATI 

STEWART  KIDD  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1921 
STEWART  KIDD  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

The  Caxton  Press 

'Everybody  for  Books."    This  is  one  of  the  Interlaken  Library. 


TO 
A  1776%  AMERICAN 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Page 

Acknowledgments 7 

Foreword 9 

Introduction 11 

Americanization 19 

Educating  the  Immigrant 28 

Russian  Education  IN  America 35 

The  Immigrant  and  the  Income  Tax  ....  42 

Immigrant  Efforts  Toward  Americanization  .  50 

The  Immigrant  and  Industry 56 

The  Foreign  Language  Press  (i)  .    .    .    .    .  72 

The  Foreign  Language  Press  (2) 80 

Why  the  Immigrant  Leaves 87 

PsEUDO  Americanization  (i) 93 

PsEUDo  Americanization  (2) 102 

Ninety-seven  Per  Cent  Chaos 124 

Welcome  to  Our  Country! 137 

Summary 152 

Appendices .  161 

Index             243 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

I  AM  indebted  to  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  the 
New  York  Times,  the  New  Republic,  the  New 
York  World,  the  New  York  Sun,  the  Christian  Science 
Monitor,  and  to  other  periodicals  for  permission  to 
use  the  greater  portion  of  the  material  contained  in 
this  book,  and  which  was  originally  printed  in  their 
columns.  This  material  has,  however,  all  been  edited 
and,  in  most  instances,  expanded  to  considerably 
greater  length  than  when  it  first  appeared. 

It  is  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Cornhill  Publishing 
Company  that  I  am  able  to  reprint  "I  Am  an  Amer- 
ican," which  appears  in  Mr.  Lieberman's  book  "Paved 
Streets."  The  New  York  Call  has  kindly  given  me 
permission  to  use  the  poem  "On  Foreigners"  which 
first  appeared  in  its  columns. 

The  date  of  writing  has  been  placed  at  the  end  of 
each  chapter  for  the  greater  convenience  of  the  reader. 

Also  I  wish  to  express  my  gratitude  to  the  staff  of 
the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  for  the 
constant  assistance  they  have  given  me  and  the  great 
patience  they  have  displayed. 

E.  H.  B. 


FOREWORD 

THIS  is  a  book  in  which  every  true  American  will 
be  profoundly  interested,  for  it  deals  with  facts 
vital  in  themselves  and  vitally  set  forth,  touching  one 
of  the  greatest  American  questions  of  to-day,  the 
question  as  to  how  the  recent  immigrant  to  this  country 
shall  be  treated  by  the  descendants  of  the  earlier  im- 
migrants, who  were  our  forbears. 

When  America  entered  the  Great  War  she  awoke  to 
the  realization  not  only  of  the  hostile  possibilities  in 
her  midst,  but  to  the  assistance  that  could  be  obtained 
from  the  so-called  "aliens,"  people  coming  from  the 
same  hemisphere  whence  had  come  those  who  founded 
the  nation. 

How  splendidly  the  various  "alien"  groups  re- 
sponded to  the  national  appeal  in  time  of  danger,  Mr. 
Bierstadt  shows  with  facts;  but  he  also  shows  how, 
when  the  war  was  over,  the  descendants  of  the  earlier 
immigrants  turned  on  these  more  recent  immigrants 
with  the  furious  hysteria  of  Chauvinism,  and  how, 
later,  this  hysteria  passed  into  the  pre-war  indifference 
and  neglect  of  the  so-called  "alien"  who,  whatever 
name  men  may  impose  upon  him,  is  still  a  part  of  the 
American  nation,  though  through  that  nation's  own 
fault,  an  unassimilated  part. 

Popular  phrases  such  as  "one  hundred  per  cent 
American"  and  "American  idealism"  which  at  times  of 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

crisis  sweep  this  country,  have  a  foundation  of  truth, 
although  they  are  often  distorted  from  their  original 
meaning.  The  aim  of  Mr.  Bierstadt's  book  is  cer- 
tainly an  instance  of  "American  idealism,"  for  not  only 
is  he  deeply  concerned  with  the  justice  due  to  the 
later  immigrants,  but  he  is  quite  as  deeply  concerned 
that  America  avail  herself  of  the  new  life  which 
these  immigrants  can  and  should  add  to  her  body 
politic. 

As  for  Mr.  Bierstadt  himself,  he  seems  to  me  an 
excellent  example  of  the  current  phrase  'one  hundred 
per  cent  American"  as  applied  in  its  better  meaning  to 
the  mental  attitude  of  an  American  citizen;  but  I  like 
to  remind  myself,  and  if  I  may  without  offense,  to 
remind  others  that  in  its  literal  sense  "one  hundred  per 
cent  American"  only  applies  to  the  Red  Indian  whom 
we  dispossessed  of  the  land  which  we  call  America. 

Sanity,  courage,  real  patriotism,  and  a  sound  knowl- 
edge of  the  facts  with  which  he  deals  are  the  moving 
forces  in  this  volume,  and  it  is  therefore  that  I  say  it 
is  a  book  in  which  all  true  Americans  will  be  pro- 
foundly interested.  Amelie  Rives 

(Princess  Troubetzkoy) 
Castle  Hill,  Virginia. 
November  3,  1921. 


10 


INTRODUCTION 
I 

Two  things  are  of  essential  and  primary  importance 
in  Americanization — a  point  of  view,  and  exact 
information  in  which  to  embody  it.  By  far  the  greater 
proportion  of  those  engaged  in  Americanization  work 
can  be  divided  into  two  classes — those  who  have  the 
right  point  of  view  but  who  lack  the  information 
necessary  to  give  it  practical  value,  and  those  who, 
having  the  information,  are  possessed  of  a  point  of 
view  which  is  influenced  and  warped  by  ulterior  motives 
which  in  themselves  frustrate  any  actually  constructive 
effort. 

It  has  been  my  endeavor  in  this  book  to  indicate 
beyond  any  question  what  I  believe  the  correct  point 
of  view  to  be,  and  also  to  supply  in  some  measure  a 
portion  of  that  concrete  data  which  the  worker  in 
Americanization  will  need.  And  it  is  not  only  to  the 
actual  workers  that  I  make  my  appeal.  Not  only 
every  citizen  but  every  resident  even  of  the  United 
States  is  influenced  in  some  wise  by  the  problems 
arising  from  the  situation  of  the  immigrant  in  America 
to-day.  I  can  recall  no  popular  movement  other,  per- 
haps, than  a  war  which  has  assumed  the  proportions 
of  Americanization.  North,  south,  east,  and  west,  in 
great  cities,  in  small  towns,  in  villages  even,  the  in- 
terest in  the  immigrant  is  acute  if  not  profound. 
Nine-tenths  of  the  great  national  organizations  have 

II 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Americanization  programs.  The  Young  Men  s  Chris- 
tian Association,  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Association,  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  the  American  Legion,  the 
National  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  are  all  actively 
engaged,  as  well  as  many  others.  And  this  does  not 
take  into  account  any  of  the  numerous  local  measures 
entered  into  by  chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of  trade, 
and  what-not.  Indeed  so  many  thousands  of  people 
are  trying  to-day  to  Americanize  so  many  other  thou- 
sands that  it  seems  to  be  high  time  that  the  cohorts 
of  the  enlightened  really  learn  something  about  the 
question  and  the  people  they  have  attacked  so  boldly. 
For  the  past  two  years  I  have  been  connected  with 
an  organization  which  has  performed  a  unique  service 
in  this  field,  and  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  observe 
intensive  Americanization  at  first  hand.  Thus  my 
own  point  of  view  has  been  built  upon  a  successful 
experiment,  upon  a  work  which  in  fact  has  now  long 
since  gone  past  the  experimental  stage,  the  status  of 
which  is  recognized  at  once  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  by  the  foreign  born  as  being  authoritative. 
This  organization  does  not  speak  through  me,  for  its 
purpose  is  to  give  service,  not  opinions.  It  has  served 
me,  however,  not  only  as  a  source  of  information,  but 
as  a  criterion  of  excellence  as  well. 


II 

It  was  once  given  to  me  to  see  in  a  single  moment 
the  immigrant  standing  between  the  two  Americas, 
that  toward  which  he  was  striving,  and  that  which 
was  presently  to  engulf  him. 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

It  was  in  the  railway  station  of  a  Pennsylvania  steel 
town.  The  smoke  from  the  engines  mixed  with  the 
smoke  rising  from  the  steel  mills  in  the  valley,  and 
together  they  thickened  the  atmosphere  until  one  felt 
the  grime,  tasted  the  grime,  and  smelled  the  grime. 
The  air  was  hazy  with  the  smoke  and  the  sun,  sinking 
toward  the  horizon,  was  partially  obscured  by  it.  It 
was  as  though  one  were  in  some  strange  world,  swinging 
in  soot  instead  of  ether. 

I  had  bought  my  ticket  and  had  turned  to  leave  the 
station  when  I  noticed  a  commotion  at  one  of  the  train 
gates.  Officials  were  pushing  back  the  crowd  and 
clearing  a  lane  from  the  gate  to  the  outer  doors.  I 
thought  that  some  great  personage  must  be  coming 
and,  like  the  others,  I  stood  to  one  side  and  waited. 
The  train  gate  swung  back,  and  through'  it  came  a 
crowd  of  immigrants.  There  were  several  hundred  of 
them — men,  women,  and  children  fresh  from  the  ship, 
many  still  wearing  their  native  costumes.  They  were 
Slavs,  and  their  clothes  were  bright  with  color,  the 
slashed  bodices  and  green  skirts  of  the  women  mingling 
with  the  knee  breeches  and  white  shirts  of  the  men. 
They  came  through  the  gate  slowly  yet  eagerly,  as  one 
might  enter  a  cathedral  filled  with  desire  and  yet  half 
afraid.  As  they  came  the  sinking  sun  cast  a  shaft  on 
a  gilt  dome  far  down  at  the  end  of  the  street  that  ran 
straight  away  from  the  outer  doors  of  the  station. 
Over  the  dome  was  the  American  flag.  Through  the 
grime  and  murkiness  the  dying  sunlight  lit  the  flag  for 
a  moment  and  deepened  the  dull  gilt  of  the  dome  into 
bright  gold.  The  immigrants  saw.  One  of  the  women 
drew  her  children  to  her,  while  with  the  other  hand  she 
pointed  up  and  out  to  the  flag  on  which  the  last  rays 

13 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

of  the  sun  rested.  Some  of  the  men  looked  and  un- 
covered quickly.  To  them  it  was  a  symbol  of  that 
which  they  had  sought  and  suffered  to  attain.  And 
while  we  watched,  the  sun  sank  below  the  horizon  and 
there  was  only  the  dirt  and  soot  shot  with  occasional 
flame  driving  up  from  the  great  blast  furnaces  in  the 
valley.  It  was  to  the  valley  the  immigrants  were  being 
taken.  There  they  would  live,  watching  the  driven 
grime  turn  the  faces  of  their  children  gray  and  sifting 
through  their  clothes  to  tattoo  their  bodies  with  its 
mark.  The  flag  would  be  lost  to  them.  All  that  they 
hoped  it  to  mean  would  in  time  become  a  mockery. 
The  end  of  their  journey  was  the  grime.  Yet  I  knew, 
for  I  knew  their  kind,  that  they  would  never  lose  faith ; 
that  what  they  were  denied  they  would  still  hope  and 
struggle  for,  so  that  their  children  might  one  day 
realize  that  which  they  would  die  still  wanting. 

Ill 

I  do  not  believe  that  popular  misconception  has  ever 
gone  farther  astray  than  in  its  point  of  view  on  our 
immigrant  population.  In  the  last  few  years  the  im- 
migrant has  been  graduated  perforce  from  his  posi- 
tion as  a  problem  to  assume  the  doubtful  dignity  of  a 
menace.  Yet  he  is  not  nor  has  he  ever  been  one.  In 
point  of  actual  fact  he  has  been  almost  inexplicably 
loyal.  I  say  inexplicably,  for  I  do  not  know  how  great 
a  percentage  of  our  native  born  would  have  gone 
through  what  the  immigrant  has  been  forced  through, 
especially  since  the  War,  without  open  revolt.  Not 
many  I  hope.  From  the  time  before  the  War,  when  he 
was  thought  to  be  only  a  "Wop,"  "Dago,"  or  "Hunkie" 
to  those  fearful  two  years  after  the  armistice,  when  he 

14 


INTRODUCTION 

was  placarded  as  a  "red  radical,"  a  "Bolshevist,"  and 
a  "foreign  menace,"  the  immigrant,  with  his  press  and 
his  organizations,  has  held  fast  to  his  faith  in  America. 

When  the  societies  and  people's  houses  of  the  Rus- 
sians and  Ukrainians  were  being  raided  and  wrecked, 
their  members  clubbed  and  beaten  and  sometimes 
killed,  the  foreign-language  press  reiterated  again  and 
again  the  appeal  to  its  readers  to  remember  that  these 
injustices  were  on  the  part  of  individuals;  that  they 
did  not  represent  the  nation.  And  the  immigrant  stood 
firm.  As  for  me,  a  native  born,  whose  forefathers  came 
here  two  hundred  years  or  more  ago,  I  felt  only  an 
overpowering  disgust  that  we  had  fallen  so  low  as  not 
only  to  permit  these  things,  but  to  encourage  them. 
One  of  the  officials  of  the  Department  of  Justice  in 
New  York,  a  man  hardened  and  old  in  the  work,  told 
me  that  even  he  was  sickened  when  the  Russians  from 
the  People's  House  were  brought  in  hacked  and  bruised 
and  bleeding.  He  said  that  from  very  shame  he  had 
stayed  with  his  men  until  late  that  night,  trying  to 
clean  the  blood  from  the  floor  of  his  office.  And  yet 
the  greater  American  public  gave  no  sign  other  perhaps 
than  of  approval.  Was  this  Americanization?  It  has 
been  called  so.     Yet  these  people  were  guiltless. 

I  do  not  wish  to  sentimentalize  about  the  foreign 
born.  Nothing  could  be  more  disastrous.  Moreover, 
sentimentality  is  not  needed  to  drive  home  the  point 
that  in  our  dealings  with  the  immigrant  we  have  been 
unutterably  stupid.  We  have  been  unsympathetic;  we 
have  been  lacking  in  understanding  or  even  in  the 
desire  to  understand;  and  we  have  been  cruel.  These 
things  are  no  more  than  stupid,  but  equally  they  are 
no  less.    Their  effect  on  the  immigrant  needs  no  com- 

15 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

ment.  Their  effect  on  the  nation  appears  to  have 
been  overlooked.  Nothing  could  be  more  inimical  to 
the  interests  of  any  country  than  that  pseudo-patri- 
otism, that  chauvinism  which  springs  from  prejudice 
and  fear.  Every  avoidable  war  in  history  has  been 
fought  upon  that  basis.  "My  country,  right  or  wrong, 
my  country"  is  the  creed  of  fools  and  weaklings:  fools 
because  they  cannot  see  the  truth,  and  weaklings  be- 
cause they  dare  not  face  it.  Surely  the  love  that  un- 
derstands all  and  forgives  all  is  better,  finer,  and  more 
lasting  than  the  blind  passion  that  turns  in  on  itself 
and  festers,  only  to  poison  all  with  whom  it  comes  in 
contact.  That  phrase  and  one  other,  "the  melting 
pot,"  have  become  our  chief  stumbling-blocks  in 
achieving  anything  even  approximating  national  unity. 
For,  by  "the  melting  pot"  we  mean  a  crucible  which 
we  alone  shall  construct,  under  which  we  shall  light 
the  fires  of  our  making,  and  into  which  we  shall  throw 
any  and  all  ingredients  which  we  regard  as  foreign  to 
our  own.  If  it  is  ever  to  become  effective  in  the  greater, 
truer  sense,  the  "melting  pot"  must  mean  that  into 
which  are  cast  foreign  and  native  born  alike  to  be 
fused  together  into  a  single  entity  in  which  there  can 
be  nothing  alien  because  there  will  be  nothing  base. 

Edward  Hale  Bierstadt. 
December,  1921. 


16 


I  Am  An  American 

I  am  an  American. 

My  father  belongs  to  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 

My  mother  to  the  Colonial  Dames. 

One  of  my  ancestors  pitched  tea  overboard  in  Boston 
Harbor; 

Another  stood  his  ground  with  Warren ; 

Another  hungered  With  Washington  at  Valley  Forge. 

My  forefathers  were  America  in  the  making; 

They  spoke  in  her  council  halls; 

They  died  on  her  battlefields ; 

They  commanded  her  ships; 

They  cleared  her  forests. 

Dawns  reddened  and  paled. 

Staunch  hearts  of  mine  beat  fast  at  each  new  star 

In  the  nation's  flag. 

Keen  eyes  of  mine  foresaw  her  greater  glory; 

The  sweep  of  her  seas. 

The  plenty  of  her  plains, 

TTie  man-hives  in  her  billion-wired  cities. 

Every  drop  of  blood  in  me  holds  a  heritage  of  pa- 
triotism. 

I  am  proud  of  my  past. 

I  am  an  American. 

I  am  an  American. 

My  father  was  an  atom  of  dust. 

My  mother  a  straw  in  the  wind. 

To  His  Serene  Majesty. 

One  of  my  ancestors  died  in  the  mines  of  Siberia ; 

Another  was  crippled  for  life  by  twenty  blows  of  the 

knout; 
Another   was   killed   defending  his   home   during  the 

massacres. 
The  history  of  my  ancestors  is  a  trail  of  blood 
To  the  palace  gate  of  the  Great  White  Czar. 
But  then  the  dream  came — 
The  dream  of  America. 
In  the  light  of  the  Liberty  torch 
The  atom  of  dust  became  a  man 
And  the  straw  in  the  wind  became  a  woman 
For  the  first  time. 

17 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

"See,"  said  my  father,  pointing  to  the  flag  that  fluttered 

near, 
'That  flag  of  stars  and  stripes  is  yours; 
It  is  the  emblem  of  the  promised  land. 
It  means,  my  son,  the  hope  of  humanity. 
Live  for  it — <iie  for  it!" 

Under  the  open  sky  of  my  new  country  I  swore  to  do  so; 
And  every  drop  of  blood  in  me  will  keep  that  vow. 
I  am  proud  of  my  future. 
I  am  an  American. 

— ^Elias  Lieberman. 


l8 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 


I 
AMERICANIZATION 

THERE  is  a  quality  of  immediacy  in  American 
thought  and  action  that  sometimes  acts  as  a 
red  herring  across  the  trail  of  constructive  en- 
deavor. The  knowledge  that  a  step  ought  to  be  taken 
is  too  often  simultaneous  with  the  step  itself.  We 
leap  first,  and  if  we  look  at  all,  it  is  after  we  have 
stumbled.  That  is  the  trouble  with  Americanization. 
Before  the  War  we  hardly  realized  that  we  had  an 
immigrant  population.  Most  of  us  simply  took  it  for 
granted  when  we  thought  of  it  at  all,  and  it  was  left 
for  a  few  sociologists,  economists,  and  special  workers 
in  the  field  to  deal  with  the  problem  of  assimilation 
from  whatever  particular  angle  their  point  of  view 
engendered.  Opposed  to  these  were  powerful  indus- 
trial interests  who  thought  of  the  immigrant  wholly 
in  terms  of  "manpower,"  and  to  whose  direct  advantage 
it  was  to  keep  him  unassimilated,  un-Americanized, 
and  as  isolated  and  ignorant  as  possible  so  that  he 
would  be  less  likely  to  make  demands  upon  them. 
The  American  workman  knows  the  American  standard 
of  living  and  requires  it  of  his  employer;  the  immigrant 
usually  knows  little  of  either  our  social  or  economic 
standards,  and  so  is  not  in  a  position  to  assert  himself. 

19 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Often  he  is  blamed  for  not  living  up  to  the  criterion 
set  him  in  this  country  by  the  native  born,  but  such 
blame  is  unjust.  He  is  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land, 
and,  sadly  enough,  it  has  been  to  the  apparent  ad- 
vantage of  many  of  those  who  employed  him  to  keep 
him  so. 

During  the  War  this  condition  underwent  a  marked 
change.  For  the  first  time  there  was  a  national  need 
for  the  immigrant.  We  needed  him  for  the  army  and 
for  munitions  works;  we  needed  his  money  for  Liberty 
Loans  and  for  Red  Cross  drives.  It  was  therefore 
essential  that  we  reach  him  not  simply  as  a  unit  of 
production,  but  as  a  human  being,  because  what  we 
were  requiring  of  him  were  human  qualities — patri- 
otism, loyalty,  and  unselfishness.  The  story  of  how 
he  was  reached  and  his  response  is  too  long  for  narra- 
tion here,  but  there  are  a  few  outstanding  facts  that 
are  very  indicative. 

The  work  really  began  on  the  4th  of  July,  191 8, 
when  a  representative  of  each  of  the  thirty-five  foreign- 
language  groups  of  the  United  States  met  with  the 
President  at  Washington's  tomb,  there  to  renew  their 
oath  of  allegiance  and  to  repledge  themselves  to  the 
nation.^  No  such  gathering  had  ever  been  made 
before.  It  was  the  logical  sequence  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  when  the  representatives  of  the 
original  thirteen  States  foregathered  in  solemn  con- 
clave. From  then  on  the  way  was  clear.  The  foreign- 
language  press,  the  societies  and  organizations  of  the 
foreign  born,  and  the  men  and  women  themselves  gave 
as  freely  and  as  selflessly  as  any  among  the  native 
Americans.     There  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of 

^  See  Appendix  B. 

20 


AMERICANIZATION 

them  in  our  army;^  their  press  published  many  millions 
of  words  in  the  effort  to  stimulate  and  educate  the 
readers  to  a  proper  concept  of  the  national  situation; 
the  readers  themselves  and  those  who  could  not  read 
gave  themselves  and  their  possessions  to  the  cause 
we  and  they  had  made  our  own.^  During  the  Fourth 
Liberty  Loan  the  Russians  of  New  York  City  alone 
gave  $20,000,000..  And  they  are  not  rich,  these  Rus- 
sians in  America.  One  is  tempted  to  go  into  too  great 
detail,  to  try  to  tell  too  much,  to  welter  in  statistics 
showing  just  how  much  the  foreign  born  did  do.  But, 
even  so,  we  ought  not  to  have  to  be  told ;  we  ought  to 
know. 

After  the  armistice  the  wheel  turned  again  as  sud- 
denly as  it  had  turned  before  and  now,  instead  of  find- 
ing himself  neglected  and  ignored,  as  he  had  been  before 
the  War,  or  praised  and  feted  as  he  was  during  it,  the 
immigrant  became  aware  that  he  was  actually  hated 
and  feared.  No  wonder  that  he  could  not  understand. 
Precisely  what  psychology  lay  behind  this  newly  con- 
ceived attitude  of  the  native  born  toward  the  foreign 
born  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  comprehend.  Prob- 
ably it  was  a  mixture  of  post-war  hysteria  left  over 
from  our  spy  scares  and  from  German  propaganda,  a 
natural  fear  of  Bolshevism  which  manifested  itself  as 
a  terror  of  all  radicalism  and  of  all  foreigners,  and  an 
excess  of  concentrated  nervous  tension  which  would 
not  permit  us  to  let  down  suddenly  from  war  pitch. 
Our  accumulated  hatred  was  left  unsatisfied  by  the 
armistice  and  demanded  a  victim;  if  not  Germany, 
then   anyone   who  spoke   with   the   detested    foreign 

*  See  Chapter  X  and  Appendix  A. 

'  See  Chapter  X  and  Appendix  F,  Note  2. 

21 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

accent.  Whatever  its  cause,  it  was  a  sad  business  for 
the  immigrant,  who  found  himself  booted  and  badgered 
on  every  side,  his  every  move  misinterpreted,  and  his 
slightest  error  regarded  as  a  crime.  In  dealing  with 
this  subject  one  cannot  hope  to  dodge  the  unpleasant 
fact  that  the  greatest  single  factor  in  stimulating  and 
spreading  this  anti-alien  hysteria  was  the  Department 
of  Justice  as  it  was  then  constituted.  A  new  adminis- 
tration is  in  Washington  now,  and  we  can  deal  with 
those  three  years  as  with  history,  with  no  animus  and 
with  no  recrimination.  It  appeared  to  be  to  the  in- 
terest of  the  Department  to  emphasize  and  even  to 
aggravate  the  feeling  against  the  immigrant,  and  it 
was  fatally  successful  in  its  efforts.  The  foreign- 
language  press  was  attacked  violently  on  every  side 
as  seditious  and  Red  Radical,  in  spite  of  its  services  to 
the  country  during  the  war.  In  the  vast  number  of 
instances  these  attacks  were  entirely  unwarranted, 
and  it  may  be  truly  stated  that  not  two  per  cent  of 
the  foreign-language  press  was  or  is  so  incendiary  as 
certain  well-known  and  well-recognized  publications  in 
English,  conducted  for  and  by  the  native  born.  For- 
eign-language organizations  were  preyed  upon  as  hot- 
beds of  radicalism,  and  more  than  one  immigrant 
school  that  was  trying  to  reduce  the  percentage  of 
illiteracy  was  raided  and  its  students  taken  away  in 
police  wagons  and  in  ambulances.^  Deportation  was 
the  order  of  the  day.  Immigrants  were  arrested  be- 
cause they  had  been  seen  at  radical  meetings,  though 
in  some  instances  it  was  proved  that  they  had  gone 
there  to  protest.  One  hundred  Russians  meeting  to- 
gether in  the  open  to  discuss  the  mysteries  of  the  alien 
^  See  Chapter  III. 

2X 


AMERICANIZATION 

income  tax  were  arrested.  A  Government  agent  was 
arrested  and  held  incommunicado  because  he  was  ad- 
dressing a  meeting  in  a  foreign  tongue.  It  was  dan- 
gerous either  to  speak  anything  other  than  English 
in  public  or  even  to  be  seen  with  a  red  necktie.  Men 
actually  were  arrested  for  both  these  offenses.  Idiocy 
ran  riot  and  the  immigrant  paid  the  bills.  Soon,  in- 
stead of  protesting  at  being  deported,  they  begged  for 
it.  Anything  to  get  out  of  the  country.  They  had 
been  treated  no  worse  under  the  Czar,  the  Kaiser,  or 
whatever  ruler  they  had  once  regarded  as  a  despot. 
It  was,  and  is,  incredible  that  a  nation  which  boasts  of 
being  the  greatest  democracy  in  history  should  so  lose 
its  head  as  to  wallow  in  a  debauch  of  feudalism  such 
as  no  democracy  has  ever  seen  before.  But  we  are 
getting  over  that  now.  The  thunder  still  rumbles,  but 
the  rain  has  stopped.  We  are  still  enthusiastically  in- 
terested and  concerned  with  Americanization,  but  we 
are  in  a  less  apprehensive  mood. 

H.  G.  Wells  once  spoke  of  a  certain  type  of  person 
as  being  a  "God-saker,"  because  he  periodically  be- 
came aware  that  something  ought  to  be  done  about 
something  else,  and  instead  of  doing  it,  rushed  fran- 
tically about,  crying  "For  God's  sake  let's  do  some- 
thing f^  The  opposite  extreme  seems  to  have  been 
reached  in  America,  where,  without  stopping  to  con- 
sider what  should  be  done  and  how  we  should  do  it, 
we  jump  into  the  fray  not  only  careless  of  ourselves, 
but  even  of  those  whom  we  desire  to  rescue.  There 
can  be  no  progression  unless  one  knows  where  one  is 
progressing  from  and  what  one  is  progressing  toward. 
This  is  appallingly  true  of  that  most  subtle  and  diffi- 
cult of  national  problems,  Americanization.     The  so- 

23 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

cial,  political,  and  economic  background  of  the  various 
immigrant  groups,  their  social,  political,  and  economic 
status  in  this  country;  what  they  hoped  to  find  here 
and  why  they  hoped  to  find  it;  what  they  did  find  and 
why  they  found  it — all  this  must  be  thoroughly  learned 
and  digested  before  one  can  even  begin  to  approach 
the  problem  of  what  must  be  done  to  attain  the  desired 
result.  And,  after  all,  what  is  that  result?  What  do 
we  mean  by  Americanization?  To  the  immigrant  it 
smacks  too  shrewdly  of  Prussianization  and  Russiani- 
zation,  both  of  which  many  of  them  have  experienced, 
to  be  wholly  palatable.  To  some  of  us,  however, 
Americanization  means  the  creation  of  a  mutual 
sympathy  and  understanding  which  will  eventually 
weld  into  one  the  many  units  composing  our  national 
destiny.  To  many  it  appears  to  mean  simply  some- 
thing done  to  somebody  by  someone  else.  That  is,  it 
is  a  condition  to  be  imposed.  If  it  is  that,  and  if  it  is 
no  more  nor  less  than  that,  we  had  best  be  rid  of  it 
at  once.  If  there  is  no  reciprocity  in  Americanization, 
there  is  only  harm.  If  the  native  born  are  not  to 
benefit  as  well  as  the  foreign  born,  the  breach  will 
only  grow  wider.  Americanization  must  mean  the 
blending  of  all  nationalities  on  American  soil,  including 
our  own;  it  must  not  mean  simply  the  engulfing  of  all 
other  nationalities  in  ours.    That  is  egomania. 

Whatever  preconceived  idea  the  immigrant  has  of 
our  form  of  government  is  based  primarily  on  his 
knowledge  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
Bill  of  Rights.  When  we  say  that  we  stand  for  free 
speech,  free  press,  and  free  assemblage,  he  takes  us 
literally  at  our  word.  These  things  have  ceased  to 
mean  much  to  us  native  born.    We  have  taken  them 


AMERICANIZATION 

for  granted  for  so  long  that  we  do  not  even  realize 
that  we  no  longer  have  them.  In  most  instances  the 
immigrant  has  never  enjoyed  these  liberties,  and  comes 
here  to  seek  them.  His  desire  for  them  is  traditional 
with  him.  He  is  as  direct  in  his  requirement  of  these 
things  as  were  the  colonists  in  1775.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  his  point  of  view  does  not  entirely  square  with  ours. 
It  appears  to  be  possible,  however,  that  he  is  in  the 
right  and  we  in  the  wrong  in  this.  It  is  we  who  have 
forgotten  and  he  who  has  remembered.  The  situation 
demands  a  gradual  process  of  education  before  the 
immigrant  will  come  really  to  know  just  what  liberties 
we  offer  him  and  exactly  what  obligations  these  lib- 
erties entail.  He  will  have  to  learn  that  we  are  essen- 
tially a  nation  of  catch-phrases,  and  that  if  he  takes 
these  little  social  and  political  anxioms  at  their  face 
value  he  will  find  himself  at  odds  with  us.  When  we 
say  that  "all  men  are  created  free  and  equal"  we  are 
more  than  apt  to  follow  the  statement  with  a  But: 
when  we  talk  of  free  speech,  free  press,  and  free  as- 
semblage we  immediately  take  issue  with  ourselves  in 
pointing  a  vast  number  of  exceptions  to  all  of  these 
things;  and  when  we  assert  that  this  is  a  "land  of  equal 
opportunity,"  we  do  not  desire  to  have  to  prove  it. 
These  foibles  of  ours  the  immigrant  must  learn,  but 

"Of  our  population  of  110,000,000,  one  person  out  of  every 
seven  was  bom  outside  of  the  United  States;  one  out  of  every 
three  was  foreign-bom  or  of  foreign  parentage.  In  other  words, 
there  are  over  13,000,000  persons  of  foreign  birth  and  over 
20,000,000  of  foreign  parentage.  Fully  one-third  of  our  total 
population  is  of  foreign-born  stock.  Of  the  33,000,000  persons  of 
foreign  birth  or  foreign  stock  in  the  United  States,  31.1%  are 
English  or  Celtic;  28.5%  are  Germanic;  13.3%  are  Latin  or 
Greek;  10.1%  are  Slavic  or  Lettic;  9%  are  Scandinavian;  7-i% 
are  unclassified;  1%  are  unknown." — From  Bridging  the  At- 
lantic, by  Professor  Sarka  B.  Hrbkova, 

^5 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

they  must  come  to  him  naturally,  slowly,  inevitably; 
not  with  the  shock  that  accompanies  forcible  deporta- 
tion or  with  that  rancor  that  follows  a  raid  on  his 
club  and  the  suppression  of  his  favorite  newspaper. 
In  short,  we  must  remember  that  the  immigrant  is 
not  only  a  problem,  but  also  a  human  being  who,  while 
he  may  differ  from  us  for  better  or  worse  intellectually, 
is  possessed  of  the  same  sensibilities  as  our  own  and  is 
kept  alive  by  the  same  set  of  emotions.  Indeed,  since, 
he  is  a  stranger,  and  particularly  since  he  has  under- 
gone somewhat  severe  maltreatment,  his  sensibilities 
are  apt  to  be  overfine  at  times,  and  his  emotions  are 
quite  likely  to  express  themselves  somewhat  floridly. 
We  must  take  all  this  into  consideration  in  dealing 
with  him. 

There  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  but  that  Ameri- 
canization is  the  favorite  pastime  of  America  to-day. 
From  every  section  of  the  country,  from  great  cities, 
and  from  towns  so  small  that  their  alien  population  is 
limited  to  one  family,  come  reports  of  Americanization 
activities.  The  local  Legion  post  is  acting  on  it;  the 
town  clerk  is  making  an  address  telling  what  it  means; 
a  fund  is  being  raised  to  carry  it  on;  every  possible 
angle  is  being  taken  and  every  possible  means  utilized 
to  do  something  about  it.  The  trouble  is  that  there  is 
no  unification  of  thought,  no  coordination  of  effort,  no 
general  agreement  as  to  just  what  Americanization 
is.  In  the  minds  of  most  of  those  actively  engaged 
in  the  work  it  probably  resolves  itself  simply  into  anti- 
radical  and  anti- foreign  propaganda.  It  is  not  my 
purpose  here  to  remark  either  on  radicals  or  conserv- 
atives, but  it  is  quite  plain  that  true  Americanization 
and  any  form  of  propaganda  cannot  exist  together. 

26 


AMERICANIZATION 

One  must  come  to  this  work  with  his  mind  free  from 
prejudices  and  his  hands  clean  of  any  selfish  gain. 
The  three  predominant  points  of  view  on  the  immi- 
grant to-day  regard  him  as  a  political-menace,  an  in- 
dustrial-unit, and  a  refractory-child.  Until  we  free 
ourselves  from  all  of  these  and  substitute  for  them  the 
simple  conception  of  the  foreign  inhabitant  of  our 
country  as  a  normal  human  being,  forced  to  live  for 
the  moment  under  abnormal  conditions,  we  cannot 
realize  the  true  essence  of  Americanization,  namely, 
that  it  is  these  conditions  that  need  Americanizing  far 
more  than  those  unfortunate  immigrants  who  are 
obliged  to  undergo  them.  When  we  are  once  able  to 
see  the  immigrant  as  a  man  or  a  woman  not  very  unlike 
ourselves,  who  may  be  won  over  to  our  point  of  view 
when  he  thoroughly  comprehends  it,  and  who  himself 
may  contribute  something  of  value  to  our  own  life 
and  experience,  and  so  enlarge  the  very  Americanism 
we  are  endeavoring  to  teach  him,  then,  and  only  then, 
can  Americanization  become  a  constructive  force.  As 
it  operates  now  it  is  a  menace  to  ourselves  and  to  those 
whom  we  would  Americanize. 

August,  1 92 1. 


17 


II 

EDUCATING  THE  IMMIGRANT 

A  a  matter  of  fact,  most  of  the  questions  affecting 
the  immigrant  in  America,  his  relationship  to 
the  national  life  and  its  relationship  to  him, 
come  back  at  the  last  to  the  problem  of  education. 
Before  anything  else  must  come  education.  He  cannot 
begin  actually  to  become  a  part  of  the  country  until 
he  knows  its  language,  can  read  its  books  and  peri- 
odicals, and  understand  something  more  of  its  history 
than  can  be  gained  by  reference  to  a  mere  text-book. 
The  question  we  have  to  ask  at  the  present  moment  is: 
Are  we  educating  the  alien  adequately  and  properly, 
and  how  is  he  responding  to  our  efforts?^ 

Such  facts  as  have  been  gained  seem  to  indicate  that 
we  have  not  approached  this  problem  either  under- 
standingly  or  sympathetically.  We  resent  the  fact 
that  the  immigrant  does  not  know  instinctively  the 
very  things  that  we  ought  to  teach  him. 

A  few  answers  to  a  questionnaire  sent  out  to  a  large 
number  of  Russians  in  the  United  States  may  throw 
some  light  on  this.  In  reply  to  the  question  asking 
what  they  wanted  to  learn,  one  answered:  "If  I  do 
go  back  to  Russia  I  want  to  be  able  to  help  the  Russian 
peasantry,  and  therefore  while  I  am  here  I  want  to 
study  scientific  agriculture.  I  want  to  become  what  I 
have  decided  to  be,  namely,  a  man  useful  to  humanity." 
"If  you  only  can,"  writes  a  Russian  from  Gary,  In- 

*  See  Appendix  F,  Note  i . 

28 


EDUCATING  THE  IMMIGRANT 

diana,  "satisfy  our  longing  to  learn  about  America, 
please  do  it,  but  do  it,  of  course,  in  the  Russian  lan- 
guage." 

Mr.  A.  Kosygin,  who  has  been  working  among  the 
Russians  in  this  country  for  several  years,  and  is  him- 
self a  Russian,  writes:  "Let  the  American  Govern- 
ment organize  special  houses  for  the  workmen  here, 
where  educational  motion  pictures  could  be  shown 
them.  Let  the  immigrant  see  America  in  pictures;  let 
him  see  her  progress.  Show  him  the  American  farms, 
cities,  mines,  and  forests,  and  the  many  other  things 
which  will  help  the  immigrant  to  see  and  understand 
America.  Publish  in  the  Russian  language  pamphlets 
on  the  history  and  geography  of  America,  and  you  will 
see  that  the  immigrant  will  like  America  better  after 
really  studying  her." 

And  again,  from  a  farm  in  the  Middle  West:  "I  love 
America  and  I  shall  live  here  till  the  end  of  my  life. 
I  am  now  an  American  citizen,  but  I  do  not  know 
English.  My  aim  is  to  master  the  English  language. 
I  am  studying,  but  I  do  not  succeed.  Please  advise 
me  what  I  shall  do."  And  another  writes  pointedly: 
"It  is  not  enough  to  have  evening  schools  where  the 
teachers  speak  only  English.  We  read  a  word  or  learn 
it  without  knowing  what  it  means  and  what  it  is  used 
for;  so  it  is  dead  for  us,  though  it  might  be  a  word  that 
we  need  very  much.  That  is  where  the  incongruity 
comes  in.  I  think  that  every  country  benefits  from 
intelligent  and  educated  inhabitants.  That  is  why  I 
think  it  is  time  to  change  America's  attitude  toward 
the  immigrant,  and  to  help  them  to  organize  their 
homes  here  and  to  familiarize  them  with  the  language. 
I  think  that  many  Russians  would  like  to  remain  here 

29 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

forever  and  to  understand  the  Americans  instead  of 
having  misunderstandings,  quarrels,  and  cursings  going 
on.  Now  all  the  Americans  think  that  all  the  Russians 
are  Bolsheviki  and  interested  only  in  politics,  but 
there  are  many  of  us  who  are  of  a  different  type."  Let 
us  pile  up  the  evidence  taken  at  random  from  letters. 
Here  is  a  more  or  less  educated  Russian  from  New 
York  speaking:  "I  speak  very  bad  English.  Going  to 
the  evening  school  did  not  do  me  very  much  good.  In 
these  schools  seven-eighths  of  all  the  time  is  spent  in 
preaching  patriotism  and  also  in  getting  subscriptions 
for  the  Liberty  Loans.  I  think  this  is  not  right.  A 
school  is  a  place  for  study  only.  If  a  school  should  be 
opened  in  New  York  where  the  pupils  would  have  to 
pay  a  small  tuition,  and  where  English  would  be 
taught  in  a  purely  scientific  method  to  the  foreigners 
who  wish  to  learn  to  speak  good  English  (not  only 
colloquial  English  and  slang  which  the  evening  schools 
are  teaching  now),  I  am  sure  that  the  school  would 
not  be  big  enough  for  all  those  who  would  desire  to 
enter  it.^  The  desire  for  knowledge  is  very  great 
among  all  the  Russians,  for  to  learn  is  the  principal 
aim  of  their  lives  in  America.  They  all  want  to  study 
a  specialty,  but  this  specialty  should  be  taught  them 
in  their  own  language,  which  they  well  understand." 
A  Russian  workman  from  Cleveland  writes:    "All  the 


^"Provide  night  schools  with  competent,  sensible,  practical  in- 
stnjction.  Not  the  sort  where  mature  men  and  women  of  foreign 
nationality,  eager  to  learn  a  little  useful  English,  drudge  through 
such  senseless  drivel  as  this,  which  was  reported  in  an  Eastern 
night  school:  *I  am  a  little  yellow  birdie.  I  can  sing.  I  can 
fly.  Shall  I  twitter  to  you?'  In  another  school  this  brilliant 
gem  was  drilled  into  the  foreigners:  *I  see  the  moon,  the  moon 
sees  me;  God  bless  the  moon,  God  bless  me.'  " — From  Bridging 
the  Atlantic,  by  Professor  Sarka  B.  Hrbkova. 

30 


EDUCATING  THE  IMMIGRANT 

Russian  colony,  almost  without  exception,  is  devoted 
to  study.  The  Russians  are  mostly  interested  in  agri- 
culture, in  the  study  of  tractors  and  automobiles.  Our 
misfortunes  lie  in  the  fact  that  we  cannot  get  an  in- 
structor who  can  speak  Russian,  and  get  Russian  books 
on  the  subjects  that  are  of  interest  to  us."  Another 
workman  from  Albany  writes:  'There  is  a  great  de- 
sire among  the  Russians  for  education.  They  mostly 
want  to  learn  from  popular  literature.  Education  is 
very  much  needed  now,  for  ignorance  leads  people  to 
Bolshevism  and  Anarchism.  But  though  there  is  a 
bureau  to  help  the  Russians  in  America,  nothing  yet 
has  been  done  to  help  the  education  in  Albany.  Here 
the  Russian  colony  tried  to  create  a  union  of  Russian 
citizens  for  purely  educational  purposes  and  without 
any  political  aims.  But  the  police  did  not  like  it  and 
did  not  permit  us  to  meet  for  conferences  and  lectures." 
The  same  bitterness  against  the  town  officials  and 
other  native  born  is  expressed  in  many  other  letters. 
A  Russian  workman  from  Homestead  writes:  **The 
Russian  colony  in  Homestead  numbers  about  1,500 
men.  They  are  all  'dark'  people;  that  is,  uneducated 
and  illiterate.  We  need  an  elementary  school,  but  we 
have  no  teachers,  and  the  Americans  consider  every 
desire  to  organize  something  a  Bolshevist  movement. 
We  need  an  elementary  school  and  instruction  in 
tractors,  automobiles,  mechanics,  and  agriculture." 
Here  is  a  rather  typical  case:  "I  have  lived  in  America 
for  five  years.  In  the  beginning  I  was  interested  in 
many  things  and  believed  in  everything  with  an  open 
soul.  But  once,  in  191 7,  I  decided  to  study  automo- 
biles. But  do  you  know  what  they  are  doing  here? 
They  are  trying  to  get  your  money,  and  as  soon  as 

31 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

diey  have  gotten  it  they  do  not  care  any  more  what 
happens  to  you.  I  paid  $50  for  a  course,  and  for  this 
money  I  had  the  pleasure  of  riding  in  an  automobile 
for  six  times,  forty-one  minutes  every  time.  That  is 
American  science!  And  beside  this  tuition,  I  had  tg 
pay  money  to  satisfy  the  instructor.  There  is  much 
injustice  going  on,  and  when  one  does  not  know  the 
American  law  one  is  always  guilty."  There  is  a  glint 
of  humor  in  this  letter,  it  is  true,  but  there  is  also  a 
touch  of  pathos  and  an  indication  that  we  would  do 
well  to  heed.  The  situation  of  the  Russians  is  perfectly 
typical  of  the  situation  as  a  whole. 

For  example,  we  see  many  Lithuanians  flocking  to 
night  schools  in  the  fall  and  gradually  dispersing  by 
i  the  middle  of  winter.  The  excuse  for  quitting  school 
if^is  that  they  cannot  understand  the  teacher.  If  they 
succeed  in  getting  a  teacher  who  can  speak  Lithuanian 
they  are  not  only  glad  to  stay  all  winter,  but  they  will 
pay  for  the  teacher  in  the  bargain.  In  Chicago,  Boston, 
and  some  other  cities  there  are  organized  Lithuanian 
night  and  day  schools  to  teach  English,  civics,  and 
other  matters  of  importance  to  potential  citizens. 
The  foreign-language  press  does  very  good  work  here. 
A  Lithuanian  immigrant  learns  much  concerning 
America  from  his  press.  Those  who  can  read  English 
are  always  proud  to  read  the  American  periodicals, 
but  those  who  cannot,  have  to  depend  on  the  Lith- 
uanian. There  is  no  need  to  cite  further  instances. 
Examples  could  be  given  which  are  just  as  forceful 
which  affect  every  foreign-language  group  in  the 
United  States.  What  applies  to  one  applies  to  all,  not 
always  with  equal  force,  but  pertinently  enough  to 
permit  a  generalization. 

32 


EDUCATING  THE  IMMIGRANT 

We  are  not  doing  all  we  can  to  educate  the  immigrant ; 
we  are  not  teaching  him  those  things  which  would  be 
useful  to  him  or  to  us  through  him.  The  Government 
is  making  certain  efforts,  to  a  great  extent  worth 
while,  but  these  efforts  are  small  compared  to  what 
might,  and  ought  to  be,  done.  We  apparently  lack 
understanding,  and,  lacking  that,  we  fail  to  sympathize 
with  the  immigrant  or  to  appreciate  the  manifest 
results  of  our  own  incompetence.  The  Polish  popula- 
tion in  certain  parts  of  the  country  have  found  it  im- 
possible to  cooperate  in  many  of  the  misdirected  at- 
tempts to  educate  them,  and  have  fallen  back  upon 
their  own  resources  as  best  they  can.  Sometimes 
this  is  possible  and  sometimes  it  is  not.  As  we  have 
seen,  in  the  case  of  the  Russians  any  effort  to  con- 
gregate, even  for  the  most  innocent  educational  pur- 
poses, has  been  stamped  out  as  Bolshevism.  Rela- 
tively few  Russians  in  this  country  are  Bolshevists, 
and  of  those  who  are  there  are  few  who  believe  in 
Bolshevism  for  any  country  other  than  their  own. 
Our  attitude  in  this  connection  is  not  only  absurd,  but 
even  highly  dangerous.  Bolshevists  are  made,  not 
born. 

One  other  phase  of  this  problem  is  pertinent  to  this 
discussion:  That  is  the  attitude  and  point  of  view  of 
some  employers  of  immigrant  labor.  Mind,  not  all,  but 
some.  In  many  instances  and  in  many  ways  it  has 
been,  and  is,  possible  for  these  men  to  educate  the 
immigrants  in  their  employ,  but  they  have  rarely,  if 
ever,  done  so.  Why  not?  Because  to  do  so  would 
mean  a  higher-priced  laborer;  a  man  who  would  not 
be  content  with  sweat-shop  wages;  one  who  would 
soon  come  not  only  to  know  his  rights  but  to  demand 

3 

33 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

them.  In  many  thousands  of  instances  in  this  country 
to-day  the  immigrant  has  not  been  educated,  because 
it  was  to  the  direct  advantage  of  the  employer  to  keep 
him  in  ignorance.  If  many  employers  had  dealt  fairly 
with  their  immigrant  employees  in  the  past,  the 
disastrous  confusion  in  reference  to  the  alien  income 
tax  law,  for  instance,  would  have  been,  if  not  avoided, 
to  a  great  extent  mitigated.  As  it  is,  the  immigrant 
has  been  so  carefully  kept  in  total  darkness  concerning 
his  rights  in  this  country  that  he  is  at  the  mercy  of 
everyone  to  whose  advantage  it  is  to  do  him  out  of 
them.  He  realizes  too  late  what  has  happened,  and 
his  point  of  view  on  America  is  permanently  deformed, 
warped  beyond  repair.  It  is  not  that  America  has 
done  this  thing  with  malice  aforethought,  with  a  di- 
rectly evil  intent.  But  we  have  been  stupid,  we  have 
been  hasty,  we  have  been  lacking  in  understanding,  in 
sympathy,  blinded  by  our  own  prejudices  and  super- 
stitions. All  that  we  need  now  to  straighten  the 
tangle  is  a  modicum  of  applied  common  sense.  We 
must  find  out  what  it  is  that  the  immigrant  actually 
needs,  not  merely  what  we  think  he  ought  to  need, 
and  we  must  set  ourselves  to  the  task  of  seeing  that  he 
gets  it.  In  that  way,  and  only  in  that  way,  can  we 
hope  to  make  the  immigrant  not  only  an  American 
citizen,  but  also  an  American  patriot;  not  only  a  cog 
in  our  industrial  wheel,  but  also  a  friend  and  neighbor. 

November,  19 19. 


34 


Ill 

RUSSIAN   EDUCATION    IN  AMERICA 

EVER  since  the  Russian  revolution  of  191 7  the 
Russian  immigrants  in  the  United  States  have 
awakened  to  the  fact  that  an  uneducated  cit- 
izen will  in  large  part  be  unable  to  enjoy  the  advant- 
ages offered  him  in  a  free  country.  They  might  have 
realized  this  long  before,  and  in  terms  of  this  country 
rather  than  Russia,  but  their  situation  here  has  been 
such  that  America  has  never  seemed  to  them  espe- 
cially free,  and  in  any  event  the  liberation  of  Russia 
has  become  traditional  and  symbolic  to  them.  Even 
before  191 7  Russian  organizations  and  societies  had 
made  attempts  to  organize  schools,  but  these  were 
mostly  for  the  purpose  of  revolutionary  propaganda, 
with  a  view  to  fitting  those  who  returned  to  Russia  to 
struggle  effectively  against  the  Czaristic  regime.  It 
must  be  well  understood,  however,  that  this  propa- 
ganda was  at  no  time  aimed  at  this  country,  but  only 
at  the  Russia  of  the  past. 

The  foundation  for  a  more  comprehensive  school 
system  was  laid  by  the  Russian  Educational  Confer- 
ence in  Chicago  during  December  of  191 8.  At  that 
convention  there  were  present  about  forty  delegates, 
representing  the  larger  groups  of  Russians  in  this 
country  who  were  interested  in  adult  education.  The 
convention  discussed  the  question  at  length  of  organ- 
izing a  central  Russian  People's  University,  which 
.would  in  time  establish  branches  in  every  state  which 

35 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

had  a  Russian  population.  The  underlying  idea  was 
to  educate  those  who  were  illiterate  either  in  English 
or  in  Russian  up  to  the  point  where  they  would  be 
able  to  take  advantage  of  the  higher  education  offered 
them  by  the  schools  and  colleges  of  this  country;  that 
is,  the  Russian  People's  University  was  to  take  the 
place  left  vacant  by  the  failure  of  our  elementary  and 
secondary  schools  in  their  dealings  with  the  immi- 
grant. The  University  was  organized  with  about  one 
hundred  students,  who  soon  complained  that  the 
faculty  was  far  too  academic  for  them.  This  dissatis- 
faction increased  until  the  end  of  19 19,  at  which  time 
the  faculty  was  forced  to  withdraw.  The  University 
was  entirely  reorganized,  though  it  retained  its  original 
name.  At  present  it  has  about  four  hundred  students, 
and  teaches  Russian  and  English  grammar,  math- 
ematics, technical  sciences,  American  agriculture,  the 
use  of  the  tractor,  automotive  science,  geography,  and 
history.  In  a  certain  sense  the  Russian  People's  Uni- 
versity to-day  may  be  compared  with  the  Rand  School 
of  New  York.  That  is,  it  does  not  propagandize  or 
proselyte  along  political  lines,  but  there  is  a  distinct 
political  bias  of  a  radical  trend.  There  are  those  who 
will  be  reassured  to  know  that  their  "technical  science" 
does  not,  however,  include  the  making  of  bombs ! 

Perhaps  the  next  largest  Russian  educational  insti- 
tution in  this  country  is  the  Society  for  Technical 
Help  to  Soviet  Russia,  located  in  New  York.  The 
title  is  self-explanatory.  The  chief  aim  of  the  society 
is  to  fit  men  for  the  work  of  reconstructing  Russia. 
Illiterates  are  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  those  who 
are  not  illiterate  are  placed  in  classes  where  various 
technical  sciences  are  taught.     This  school  has  about 

36 


RUSSIAN  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA 

six  hundred  students.  It  may  be  noted  here  that  the 
more  radical  elements  among  the  Russians  are  usually 
more  desirous  of  education  than  the  conservatives.  It 
is  asserted,  and  with  apparent  reason,  that  the  Russian 
Church  has  never  encouraged  adult  education  either  in 
Russian  or  in  American  schools  in  the  fear  that  such 
education  would  tend  to  lessen  its  grip  on  the  mass  of 
the  Russian  colony. 

Probably  the  most  important  factor  in  Russian 
education  in  America  is  the  Russian  Collegiate  In- 
stitute of  New  York.  This  institute  is  entirely  with- 
out political  bias  of  any  kind.  Its  work  is  divided  into 
three  departments:  Preparatory  (Russian  school);  Spe- 
cial (technical  and  agricultural),  and  Academic  (lec- 
tures on  more  general  subjects).  In  the  report  of  the 
institute  for  1920  it  is  stated  that  no  students  were 
enrolled  in  the  Preparatory,  while  the  figures  for  the 
Special  and  Academic  are  not  given.  It  is  noted,  how- 
ever, that  50,000  attended  lectures  that  year.  The 
curriculum  is  too  long  to  give  here,  but  it  is  excellent 
in  its  scope  and  in  its  direct  approach  to  the  probl-ems 
under  discussion.  In  1920,  278  lectures  were  given, 
121  of  them  at  the  institute  and  157  outside. 

Cities  which  are  industrial  centers,  such  as  Water- 
bury,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  and  Detroit,  have 
schools  not  unlike  the  Society  for  Technical  Help. 
The  attendance  varies  from  50  to  500  students.  The 
Detroit  school  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  country,  but 
in  spite  of  this,  the  students,  not  satisfied  with  the  ed- 
ucational facilities  it  had  to  offer  (it  is  hard  pressed  for 
money,  of  course),  organized  themselves  into  groups 
of  thirty  or  forty  to  attend  the  Michigan  Agricultural 

37 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

College.  As  soon  as  one  group  finished  with  a  course 
the  next  group  started  in. 

There  is  a  marked  drift  from  cities  where  there  are 
no  Russian  schools,  and  where  Russians  have  been  led 
to  mistrust  American  schools,  into  such  centers  as 
offer  educational  advantages.  The  Russian  press 
carries  many  letters  from  many  different  cities,  com- 
plaining that  there  are  no  schools  which  Russians  may 
attend.  This  means  that  there  are  no  schools  with 
Russian  teachers,  or  even  American  schools  which 
welcome  Russians.  An  attempt  was  made  in  Detroit 
in  the  summer  of  1920  to  interest  the  city  school 
authorities  in  the  educational  problem  of  the  Rus- 
sians. Several  rooms  were  turned  over  to  them  in  a 
technical  high  school,  and  certain  other  facilities  of 
the  school  were  given  them  also.  Several  hundred 
Russians  attended  the  school  enthusiastically,  with 
the  result  that  many  of  them  remained  in  the  regular 
classes  conducted  by  the  city.  It  was  too  good  to 
last.  One  of  the  local  newspapers  raised  the  cry  that 
the  city  schools  were  being  "Bolshevized,"  and  the 
Russians  were  turned  out  at  once.  Racial  hatred  was 
stirred  up  against  the  Russians,  who,  on  their  part, 
felt  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  attend  any  school 
that  demanded  a  clearance  certificate  of  one's  poli- 
tical beliefs.  It  was  by  no  means  an  unusual  situa- 
tion. 

Some  of  the  Russian  churches  maintain  parochial 
schools,  but  these  are  only  for  children.  After  191 7 
those  schools,  which  were  subsidized  by  the  Russian 
government,  began  to  diminish  rapidly,  and  at  best 
the  parochial  schools  taught  only  the  Russian  language 
and  the  canons  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church. 

38 


RUSSIAN  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA 

Here  are  three  announcements  which  are  typical  of 
Russian  schools  throughout  the  country:  The  Russian 
Workman's  Mutual  Society  of  Baltimore  advertises: 
"We  have  just  opened  a  technical  school.  The  follow- 
ing trades  will  be  taught :  automobile  repairing,  black- 
smith work,  and  general  mechanics.  Classes  will  also 
be  started  for  illiterates  and  for  those  desiring  to  learn 
drafting."  Here  is  one  from  Connecticut:  'To  all 
Russians  of  Ansonia:  Some  time  ago  the  Russians  of 
this  city  decided  to  open  an  automobile  school.  A 
lecturer  was  invited,  and  he  explained  the  importance 
of  automobiles  and  tractors.  After  the  lecture  pupils 
enrolled  in  the  new  school.  Forty  men  have  expressed 
their  willingness  to  study  these  subjects.  A  suitable 
building  has  been  found,  machines  have  been  bought, 
and  the  school  is  in  full  operation  day  and  night.  We 
ask  all  Russians  of  Ansonia  to  take  advantage  of  the 
school."  Another,  from  Massachusetts.  This  is  an 
appeal  issued  by  a  club  calling  itself  "Enlightenment": 
"We  invite  all  Russians  to  join  our  educational  club. 
Do  not  spend  your  time  and  money  in  vain,  in  playing 
cards  or  billiards.  Many  of  you  are  preparing  to  go 
back  to  Russia,  and  there  all,  young  and  old,  are  learn- 
ing something.  It  is  folly  for  you  to  return  to  Russia 
knowing  no  more  than  when  you  left  there." 

This  last  will  indicate  particularly  the  impetus  given 
education  in  this  country  by  the  news  that  the  Soviet 
government  wanted  trained  and  educated  citizens. 
The  revolution  that  they  had  waited  for  for  generations 
had  come,  and  they  must  fit  themselves  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  their  opportunities  for  their  own  sake  and 
for  that  of  their  country.  The  reference  to  cards  and 
billiards  relates  to  the  great  dropping  off  of  attendance 

39 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

in  all  Russian  schools  after  the  Palmer  raids.  The 
Russians  were  disheartened.  They  stayed  at  home 
and  loafed  in  their  spare  time.  They  feared  to  meet 
together  in  a  school.  They  knew  too  well  what  would 
happen. 

The  following  figures  will  show  the  enrollment  of 
Russians  in  American  night  schools  in  industrial 
centers : 

Approximate 
City  Enrollment  Russian 

Population 

Elizabeth,  N.  J 42  2  ,ocx) 

Paterson,  N.  J 12  Over  i  ,000 

Passaic,  N.  J 43  *  *      i  ,000 

Bayonne,  N.J Very  few  i ,  000 

Lawrence,  Mass 6  '  *     2 ,  000 

Chelsea,  Mass 13  500 

Boston,  Mass Practically  none  *  *     8 ,000 

*Pittsburgh,  Pa 9  *  *    1 2 ,000 

Wilmington,  Del 87  in  two  years  500 

Baltimore,  Md 169  3 ,  500 

Scranton,  Pa 22  2 ,  000 

Ansonia,  Conn 12  i ,  500 

Gary,  Ind 134  **     3,000 

Detroit,  Mich Hardly  any  **   20,000 

Against  this  we  have  the  following  figures,  showing 
the  attendance  at  some  Russian  schools.  These  figures 
all  dropped,  however,  after  the  schools  had  been 
raided  by  the  Department  of  Justice: 

Detroit Over    600 

Chicago * '       400 

Pittsburgh 125 

Boston "       400 

Waterbury About  400 

The  foregoing  facts  point  with  unmistakable  direct- 
ness to  several  conclusions:  First,  that  our  own  school 
system  has  been  a  complete  failure  so  far  as  the  adult 

*  None  since  Palmer  raids. 

40 


RUSSIAN  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA 

Russians  are  concerned.  Second,  that  it  has  failed 
because  of  its  inherent  inability  to  cope  either  with 
the  problem  of  adult  education  in  general  or  with  the 
task  of  immigrant  education  in  particular.  Third, 
that  Russians  are  particularly  desirous  of  obtaining 
educational  advantages,  especially  along  certain  in- 
dicated technical  lines.  And  last,  that  instead  of  try- 
ing to  make  our  own  school  system  sufficiently  flexible 
to  include  these  prospective  citizens,  we  have  in  many 
instances  driven  them  from  our  schools  when  they 
sought  entrance  there  and  violently  closed  their  own 
schools  when  they  were  forced,  through  our  neglect, 
to  fall  back  on  their  own  resources. 

July,  1921. 


41 


IV 

THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  INCOME 

TAX 

THE  complication  of  the  income  tax  situation,  so 
far  as  it  affected  the  immigrant  in  America,  is 
so  little  understood  that  it  may  be  well  to  start 
with  an  attempt  at  a  rough  outline  which  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  peculiarity  of  the  conditions.^ 

During  the  first  years  of  the  War  aliens  were  not 
taxed  at  all,  as  aliens,  if  their  incomes  were  under 
$4,000  or  $5,000.  In  October  of  191 8,  however,  a  law 
was  passed  taxing  all  aliens  two  per  cent  on  their  entire 
income  for  191 6  and  191 7.  Also  at  this  time  a  law 
went  into  effect  imposing  a  tax  of  one  per  cent  on  all 
alien  incomes  during  the  years  of  191 3,  19 14,  and  191 5. 
This  law  was  retroactive  obviously,  and  the  conditions 
of  collection  made  it  doubly  difficult.  The  employer, 
in  the  case  of  aliens,  is  constituted  by  the  Government 
a  "withholding  agent,"  empowered  to  collect  taxes 
from  alien  employees  by  withholding  money  from  the 
wages  due.  In  the  case  of  this  retroactive  law  the 
wages  from  which  the  tax  should  have  been  collected 
had  already  been  paid  and  the  employer,  in  a  panic 
lest  he  himself  have  to  pay  the  sums,  simply  with- 
held a  lump  amount  in  many  cases  which  covered  or 
nearly  covered  the  tax.  This  left  the  employee  from 
whom   the  sum   had   been  collected   with  no  wages 

1  See  report  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  in 
Appendix. 

42 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  INCOME  TAX 

coming  in  for  weeks  or  months.  He  had  nothing  on 
which  to  live,  and  in  some  cases  was  reduced  to  des- 
titution. 

The  next  step  was  the  passing  of  the  Revenue  Bill 
on  the  25th  of  "February,  1919,  which  reduced  the  sit- 
uation to  sheer  chaos.  This  bill  imposed  a  tax  of 
twelve  per  cent  on  the  incomes  of  all  non-resident 
aliens  for  the  year  191 8,  and  up  to  the  time  the  bill 
was  passed.  Thereafter  a  tax  of  eight  per  cent  was 
imposed.  Resident  aliens  were  taxed  a  straight  six 
per  cent,  as  in  the  case  of  ordinary  citizens.  These 
taxes  were,  of  course,  in  addition  to  the  taxes  already 
mentioned.  The  bill,  however,  provided  for  certain 
exceptions  and  exemptions.  There  were  three  classes 
of  non-resident  aliens  to  be  taxed  according  to  the 
outline  prepared:  Class  "A"  specified  a  list  of  some 
fourteen  or  fifteen  countries  which  either  impose  no 
income  tax  at  all  or,  in  imposing  one,  allow  American 
citizens  both  a  personal  exemption  and  an  exemption 
for  dependents  which  satisfy  the  similar  requirements 
of  our  own  statute.  In  a  word,  it  was  a  matter  of 
reciprocity.  Class  "B"  specified  a  similar  list  of 
countries,  but  ones  which,  allowing  a  personal  exemp- 
tion to  American  citizens,  do  not  allow  exemptions  for 
dependents.  Class  "C"  covered  all  non-resident  aliens 
who  were  not  included  in  either  of  the  other  two 
classes,  and  these  were  permitted  no  exemption  what- 
ever on  any  portion  of  their  incomes  and  were  taxed 
to  the  full  amount. 

There  were  at  least  two  fundamental  causes  for 
acute  complication.  The  first  was  that  the  map  of 
Europe  was  in  so  great  a  state  of  confusion  that  the 
lists  of  countries  and  provinces  changed  almost  over 

43 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

night,  and  were  most  difficult  not  only  to  keep  track 
of,  but  even  to  define.  Remember  that  this  information 
had  to  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  all  employers 
of  aliens  as  well  as  to  the  aliens  themselves.  It  was  a 
gigantic  task  and  it  was  necessarily  bungled.  The 
second  reason  for  trouble  lay  in  the  fact  that  no  defini- 
tion was  made  of  the  "non-resident  alien,"  and  it  was 
fully  ten  weeks  before  this  phrase  was  given  official 
interpretation.  Meanwhile  the  law  was  strangling  in 
its  own  red  tape.  Finally  it  was  said  that  a  resident 
alien  was  one  who  had  no  immediate  intention  of  re- 
turning to  his  own  country,  or  who  had  no  immediate 
intention  of  making  any  other  country  than  this  his 
home.  A  form  (1078)  which  contained  this  declara- 
tion was  sent  to  employers,  who  were  instructed  to 
have  all  those  sign  it  who  desired  to.  This  led  in 
many  instances  to  the  classing  of  others,  who,  for  some 
reason,  did  not  sign  the  form,  as  non-resident  aliens 
and  the  imposition  of  the  full  tax.  In  the  case  of  a 
resident  the  employer  was  not  constituted  the  with- 
holding agent,  and  he  was  thus  naturally  desirous  of 
having  his  employees  all  resident,  as  that  would  do 
away  with  the  complicated  bookkeeping  the  taxation 
of  the  non-resident  entailed.  Actuated  partly  by  this 
desire  and  partly  also  by  a  mistaken  idea  of  patriotism, 
a  great  many  employers  forced  their  laborers  either 
to  sign  Form  1078  or  to  submit  to  discharge.  In  this 
way  thousands  were  put  out  of  work.  There  were  two 
reasons  for  this:  First,  both  employer  and  employee 
were  more  than  a  little  vague  concerning  the  exact 
meaning  of  these  forms,  but  they  both  suspected, 
quite  without  warrant,  that  Form  1078  was  much  the 
same  as  the  Declaration  of  Intention,  or  the  "first 

44 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  INCOME  TAX 

papers"  taken  out  in  the  step  toward  citizenship. 
Hence  the  employer  felt  that  he  was  taking  a  patriotic 
stand  in  making  citizens,  even  by  force,  and  the  alien, 
having  traditional  fear  of  signing  anything,  feared  that 
he  was  being  trapped.  There  was  a  perfectly  natural 
disinclination  on  the  part  of  the  alien,  at  this  special 
time,  to  promise  to  stay  in  America.  He  wanted  to 
see  his  family  in  Europe,  of  whom  he  might  not  have 
heard  in  years.  He  had  a  little  property  there  per- 
haps which  certainly  wanted  looking  after,  and  he 
was  desirous  of  seeing  the  effects  of  the  emancipation 
for  which  he  and  his  forebears  had  watched  and  waited 
for  long  generations.  It  was  not  that  he  wanted  to 
go  and  stay,  but  he  did  not  want  to  promise  that  he 
would  not  go.  However,  Form  1078  did  not  complete 
the  disaster;  there  was  still  another: 

This  was  Form  1 1 1 5,  which  was  a  claim  for  exemp- 
tion under  either  Class  "A"  or  *'B."  For  some  reason 
this  form  was  not  given  the  wide  circulation  and  pub- 
licity that  its  predecessor  had  had.  Neither  the  em- 
ployers nor  the  Government  tax  collectors  were  properly 
informed,  and  the  natural  result  was  that  many  thou- 
sands of  aliens  were  overtaxed.  At  the  New  York 
Customs  House  alone  it  is  estimated  that  in  a  period 
of  about  six  months  $1,000,000  was  mistakenly  col- 
lected from  aliens.  This  was  done  wholly  in  error, 
through  a  faulty  interpretation  of  an  impossible  law. 
So  far  as  was  possible,  refunds  were  made.  The  natural 
result  of  this  was  resentment  on  the  part  of  those  who 
were  submitted  to  it.  The  employer  was  not  obliged 
to  give  a  receipt  to  the  employee  for  the  taxes  collected, 
and  thus  when  an  alien  started  back  to  the  home 
country  he  was  confronted  at  the  Customs  House 

45 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

with  a  claim  for  his  taxes  in  full.  If  he  could  not  show 
a  statement  from  his  employer  or  some  other  proof  of 
taxation,  he  was  taxed  all  over  again.  In  thousands 
of  cases  aliens  returned  to  Europe  feeling  that  they 
had  been  unjustly  treated,  as,  indeed,  in  many  cases 
they  had  been.  Partly  because  of  this  America  was  in 
direct  danger  of  losing  her  prestige  among  the  peasant 
class  of  Central  Europe,  a  condition  which  in  the  long 
run  might  prove  far  from  desirable.  It  is  well  to  re- 
member also  that  in  many  cases  employers  interpreted 
the  Revenue  Law  to  suit  their  own  ideas  or  convenience : 
this  did  not  tend  to  clear  the  situation.  It  must  be 
noted  emphatically,  however,  that  this  law  was  lit- 
erally impossible  of  exact  interpretation  by  employers 
or  anyone  else.  The  outline  of  the  law  as  given  here 
has  not  even  scratched  the  surface  of  the  matter;  to 
give  it  in  full  would  require  a  small  volume;  to  elucidate 
it  would  be  impossible. 

One  or  two  letters  which  are  typical  may  help  the 
reader  to  grasp  the  grotesque  irony  of  the  thing.  The 
following  is  from  a  sworn  statement:  "On  or  about 
December  30,  191 8,  Deputy  Collector  Doe  called  me 
into  the  Blank  Company's  office  and  asked  me,  'Do 
you  want  to  stay  in  this  country  or  do  you  want  to 
go  back  to  the  old  country?'  I  said  'I  don't  know/ 
Then  he  said  *You  have  to  say  for  sure.'  I  said  'I 
want  to  go  back.'  I  did  not  know  who  this  man  was 
who  was  asking  me  these  questions.  I  had  recently 
received  a  letter  from  my  brother  who  had  been  in  the 
Russian  army,  in  which  he  stated  that  our  old  home 
town  in  Russia  had  been  practically  wiped  out,  and 
that  he  had  been  inquiring  around,  but  so  far  had  not 
been  successful  in  locating  my  mother  and  two  sisters. 

46 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  INCOME  TAX 

My  wife  and  I  had  decided  that  possibly  when  condi- 
tions pennitted,  it  would  only  be  proper  for  me  to  go 
back  for  two  or  three  months  to  help  in  the  search  for 
my  mother  and  sisters,  and  that  is  why  I  answered  as 
I  did.  It  has  always  been  my  intention  to  make  my 
real  home  in  America."  That  is  an  entirely  charac- 
teristic statement.  Here  is  an  extract  from  a  letter: 
"That  is,  they  have  withheld  as  income  tax  $81.17 
altogether,  and  then  they  threw  me  out  of  work  be- 
cause I  refused  to  take  out  my  first  papers."  This 
man  had  worked  for  the  Blank  Company  at  Pullman, 
Illinois.  He  came  to  America  from  Russian  Poland 
in  191 2,  with  his  wife  and  four  children,  who  are  at 
present  here  with  him.  He  has  no  definite  intention 
of  leaving  the  country.  Here  is  another:  "I  have 
first  American  papers,  which  I  took  out  in  191 6.  I 
signed  also  the  green  slip  (Form  1078  revised)  at  the 
Blank  Asphalt  Paving  Company,  Maurer,  New 
Jersey.  They  have  thrown  me  out  of  work  and  I  do 
not  work  anywhere  now.  I  am  thirty-seven  years  old ; 
my  wife  is  thirty-two.  I  came  from  Galicia,  County 
of  Rohatyn,  village  of  Czercze.  My  wife  is  from 
Galicia,  village  of  Benkowce,  County  of  Rohatyn.  I 
would  like  to  return  to  the  country  from  which  I  came. 
Kindly  write  and  explain  things  to  me." 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  dealing  with  this  and 
with  all  similar  problems  affecting  the  immigrant, 
that  he  is  very  often  so  ignorant  that  he  cannot  speak 
any  English  at  all,  and  often  can  neither  read  nor 
write  his  own  language,  not  to  mention  ours.  There 
is  a  background  behind  these  people  that  it  is  most 
difficult  for  the  average  American  born  to  understand, 
a  background  of  mediaeval  oppression  in  which  the 

47 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

mere  signing  of  a  paper  may  mean  death.  It  is  this 
with  which  we  have  to  contend,  and  we  can  only  gain 
our  point  by  a  slow,  gradual  growth.  They  must  not, 
cannot  be  forced. 

In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  alien  makes  no  effort  to 
avoid  the  tax  when  he  clearly  understands  that  it  is 
a  Government  measure;  but  he  has  been  rendered  so 
suspicious  by  uninformed  employers  and  collectors  that 
he  has  reached  the  point  where  he  is,  to  utilize  a  truly 
American  expression,  "from  Missouri."  Why  not? 
Thousands  of  Russians  in  Bridgeport  and  in  Chicago 
have  been  thrown  out  of  work  through  the  absolute 
insistence  of  the  employer  that  Form  1078  be  signed. 
These  people  cannot  go  home.  They  use  their  small 
savings  to  live  on  for  a  while  and  then  they  have 
nothing.  And  next — Bolshevism.  Instead  of  stamp- 
ing out  this  menace  we  are  warming  it  in  our  bosoms. 
The  laborer  does  not  want  it,  but  we  are  actually  forc- 
ing him  into  it.  One  of  these  men  writes,  and  again 
it  is  typical:  **I  have  lived  in  America  for  nine  years. 
During  that  time  I  have  studied  the  work  of  a  me- 
chanic, and  now  I  am  earning  enough  for  my  own  life, 
but  many  thousands  of  Russians  in  this  country  while 
they  worked  had  hardly  enough  to  live  on,  and  now 
that  the  War  is  ended  they  are  discharged  from  fac- 
tories and  are  told  'You  are  a  Bolshevik.*  And  many 
of  them  do  not  know  what  Bolshevism  or  Capitalism 
means,  and  are  just  as  simple  as  saints  and  angels. 
They  called  them  Bolsheviki  just  to  be  able  to  throw 
them  out  of  the  factories,  and  so  they  make  real  Bol- 
sheviki out  of  them."  The  letter  is  amusing  enough, 
perhaps,  but  it  has  its  point  nevertheless.  There  are 
thousands  like  it. 

48 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  INCOME  TAX 

The  Internal  Revenue  Act  of  191 8  was  a  bad  law, 
first,  because  it  was  unfair  in  itself,  and  because  it  was 
totally  incapable  of  exact  interpretation  even  by  those 
who  brought  it  into  being;  and  second,  because  it  was 
worse  than  unfair  in  its  administration. 

November,  19 19. 


The  reader  should  consult  in  this  connection  those  sections  of 
the  report  of  the  F.  L.  I.  S.  in  the  Appendix,  entitled  "Govern- 
ment Contacts"  and  "Individual  Service,"  as  well  as  the  letters 
appended  to  this  last  section.  These  will  give  concrete  instances 
of  the  troubles  arising  from  the  alien  income  tax.  It  should  be 
noted  that  this  report  was  compiled  eighteen  months  after  this 
paper  was  written. 


49 


J 


V 

IMMIGRANT    EFFORTS    TOWARD 
AMERICANIZATION 

THE  very  word  "Americanization"  is  a  dangerous 
choice.  It  reminds  the  immigrant  too  strongly 
of  Russianization  and  Germanization.  Probably 
"assimilation"  would  have  been  a  better  and  truer 
term;  but  as  it  is,  so  let  us  deal  with  it.  My  purpose 
is  to  state  briefly  the  reaction  of  the  various  immigrant 
groups  toward  Americanization  or  assimilation,  and  to 
give  a  few  facts  concerning  the  individual. 

With  the  Lithuanians  several  points  stand  out 
clearly.  The  chief  difficulty  is  the  language.  Many 
Lithuanians  flock  to  night  school  in  the  fall  only  to 
leave  in  the  middle  of  the  season,  because  they  cannot 
understand  the  American  teacher.  If  they  succeed  in 
getting  a  Lithuanian  teacher  they  will  not  only  stay 
all  winter,  but  will  often  gladly  pay  for  their  tuition. 
In  Chicago,  Boston,  and  some  other  cities  there  are 
several  organized  Lithuanian  schools  for  the  teaching 
of  English,  civics,  and  other  topics  which  will  be  of 
service  in  the  new  life. 

The  Lithuanian  is  markedly  imitative,  and  is  as  a 
rule  anxious  to  become  an  American  as  soon  as  he  can. 
There  are  a  number  of  Lithuanian  societies  and  or- 
ganizations, the  deeper  purpose  of  which  is  American- 
ization. In  these  the  immigrant  meets  his  friends  who 
have  been  here  for  some  years  and  learns  from  them. 

50 


EFFORTS  TOWARD  AMERICANIZATION 

There  are  thousands  of  these  fraternal  and  dramatic 
societies  and  citizenship  clubs  among  the  foreign-born 
groups.  They  are  the  real  centers  of  Americanization. 
The  Lithuanian  priests  take  a  strong  interest  in  natural- 
ization in  their  own  parishes.  One  of  these,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Kudirka,  of  Hazelton,  Pennsylvania,  took  some 
two  score  of  his  parishioners  in  a  body  to  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  court  to  aid  them  in  taking  out  their  first  papers. 

With  the  Ukrainians  there  are  three  definite  points 
to  be  noted.  The  Ukrainian  girls  become  Americanized 
very  quickly.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  they  learn 
the  language  thoroughly  and  adapt  themselves  to  the 
American  life  and  point  of  view.  The  men,  however, 
almost  never  can  be  assimilated  in  the  first  generation. 
The  Ukrainian  women  are  scattered  through  the  cities 
as  dressmakers,  waitresses,  and  chambermaids,  while 
the  men,  on  the  other  hand,  usually  work  in  a  circle 
of  other  foreign  born.  The  next  point  is  that  during 
the  war  in  nearly  all  communities  containing  Ukrainian 
immigrants  their  societies  participated  heartily  in  the 
Liberty  Loan  campaigns,  Fourth  of  July  celebrations, 
patriotic  pageants,  and  festivals,  and  were  always 
happy  in  the  thought  that  they  were  contributing  to 
the  cause.  Finally,  love  for  America  and  allegiance  to 
this  country  increased  very  greatly  after  President 
Wilson's  declaration  of  American  principles,  partic- 
ularly that  of  self-determination. 

The  groups  constituting  the  Scandinavian  countries 
have  done  excellent  work,  as  have  also  the  Dutch  and 
Finns.  During  the  War  patriotic  leagues  were  formed 
to  further  the  work  of  assimilation.  Many  of  these 
organizations  were  disbanded  after  the  armistice,  but 
some  still  continue.     All  of  these  groups  assimilate 

51 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

quickly,  the  Finns  a  little  less  so  than  the  others, 
simply  because  English  is  a  peculiarly  difficult  language 
for  them. 

The  German  situation  is  naturally  of  distinct  in- 
terest. The  main  tendency  engendered  by  the  war  is 
to  get  away  from  the  old  idea  of  segregation.  The 
momentary  stimulus  given  by  the  War  to  the  old  racial 
sympathies  and  aspirations  has  very  largely  passed. 
Some  time  ago  a  movement  was  started  to  raise 
$25,000,000,  or  even  $65,000,000  for  the  sufferers  in 
Germany  among  Americans  of  German  ancestry. 
Although  great  efforts  were  made,  little  was  collected, 
probably  not  more  than  $100,000  in  all.  The  fund  will 
never  reach  anything  like  the  total  proposed. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  likely  that  the  "bitter 
enders"  among  our  German-speaking  population  are 
turning  toward  Bolshevism.  The  German  Language 
Federation  of  the  Socialist  party  joined  almost  as  a 
whole  the  newly  formed  Communist  Labor  party,  the 
platform  of  which  is  pronouncedly  Bolshevistic.  In 
this  step  it  is  probable  that  racial  factors  played  a  more 
important  part  than  political  convictions. 

The  Czecho-Slovak  reaction  is  entirely  optimistic 
and  has  never  really  been  otherwise.  The  largest 
single  branch  of  the  American  Red  Cross  was  one  formed 
entirely  of  Czecho-Slovak  women  in  Cleveland.  In 
eleven  different  states  Czech  and  Slovak  Building  and 
Loan  Associations  became  War  Savings  societies. 
Every  Czecho-Slovak  national  organization  without 
exception  contributed  to  every  one  of  the  Liberty 
Loans.  This  action  was  taken  entirely  without  sug- 
gestion or  solicitation  from  outside.  In  the  smaller 
communities  the  groups  united  in  all  manner  of  pa- 

5^ 


EFFORTS  TOWARD  AMERICANIZATION 

triotic  festivals,  besides  contributing  largely  to  the 
loans  and  drives.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  of 
the  Czecho-Slovak  women's  organizations  have  as  a 
set  part  of  their  programs  at  every  meeting  the  sing- 
ing of  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner,"  and  again  there 
is  great  interest  in  plays  of  American  origin  which  have 
been  translated  into  Czech  and  Slovak  and  produced 
by  amateurs.  Most  of  these  plays  have  been  selected 
as  being  representative  of  some  typical  phase  of 
American  life. 

The  Jugo-Slavs  are  somewhat  handicapped  in  any 
organized  effort  through  lack  of  funds.  The  first  gen- 
eration in  this  country  may  be  divided  into  two  classes 
so  far  as  their  efforts  toward  Americanization  are  con- 
cerned. One  of  these  classes  comprises  individuals 
with  some  schooling  and  knowledge  of  certain  trades. 
These  men  are  easily  assimilated  and  make  a  distinct 
effort  to  learn  the  language  and  imbibe  the  true  spirit 
of  America.  The  older  people,  however,  are  naturally 
much  less  adaptable.  The  second  class  includes  men  with 
little  or  no  education,  doing  a  common  laborer's  work 
in  small  mining  communities  and  big  steel  centers, 
where  they  are  to  be  found  in  large  numbers.  These 
men  keep  rather  apart  from  American  life,  because, 
not  knowing  how  to  read  and  write  their  own  language, 
it  is  naturally  the  more  difficult  for  them  to  learn  to 
read  and  write  ours.  These  men,  too,  have  meager 
opportunities  to  learn,  because  in  most  instances  they 
have  received  little  encouragement.  Nevertheless,  the 
second  generation  is  assimilated  quickly,  and  the  Jugo- 
slav parochial  schools  have  given  valuable  service  in 
this,  for  they  do  all  their  teaching  in  English.  The 
mother  tongue  is  merely  taught  as  one  of  the  subjects. 

53 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

As  for  the  Italians,  their  point  of  view  is  still  differ- 
ent. The  naturalization  of  these  people  is  proceeding 
normally.  The  Italian,  as  a  rule,  desires  to  be  per- 
suaded and  reasoned  into  assuming  citizenship.  He 
strongly  resents  any  coercive  methods,  such  as  have 
arisen  through  the  misapplication  of  the  Internal 
Revenue  Form  1078  which  is  used  in  connection  with 
the  alien  income  tax.  When  the  Italian  does  become 
a  citizen  he  is  usually  a  good  one,  with  a  strong  love 
for  the  land  of  his  adoption,  especially  if  his  family  is 
established  here.  Their  efforts  toward  Americaniza- 
tion are  largely  of  an  individual  nature,  but  there  are 
several  societies  which  are  doing  excellent  work  along 
this  line.  These  are:  the  Italian-American  Alliance, 
the  Italian-American  Democratic  Union,  and  the  Ital- 
ian-American Civic  Union.  Surely  there  is  nothing  to 
be  feared  from  this  quarter. 

There  are  several  Hungarian  organizations  which  do 
important  and  successful  Americanization  work.  Some 
of  these  offer  naturalization  classes  for  adults  and  help 
large  numbers  of  Hungarians  yearly  to  gain  citizen- 
ship. It  may  be  said  that  all  Hungarians  who  decide 
to  settle  down  in  the  United  States  try  to  get  citizen- 
ship, and  that  90  per  cent  of  the  Hungarian  settlers, 
not  transients,  are  American  citizens.  A  magazine  of 
Americanization  and  education  is  published  in  Cleve- 
land in  the  Hungarian  language,  and  is  endorsed  by 
the  Cleveland  Americanization  Committee.  This 
group  is  not  behind  the  others  in  bending  its  efforts 
along  the  right  line. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  general  tendency 
on  the  part  of  all  the  groups  to  forward  Americaniza- 
tion as  sanely,  as  practically,  and  as  enthusiastically 

54 


EFFORTS  TOWARD  AMERICANIZATION 

as  may  be.^  But  the  American  does  not  at  present 
make  it  easy  for  the  immigrant.  Through  the  press  he 
blackguards  him,  and  calls  him  Bolshevist,  Wop, 
Dago,  and  worse  things,  apparently  simply  through  his 
own  high  sense  of  superiority.  The  immigrant  does 
not  enthuse  over  this  point  of  view:  one  would  hardly 
expect  him  to.  And  then  there  is  a  tendency  to  hound 
the  alien  into  citizenship,  to  deport  him  if  he  does  not 
immediately  succumb,  or  to  jail  him  if  he  protests  at 
high-handed  methods.  All  these  things  are  un-Amer- 
ican in  themselves  and  are  totally  destructive  not  only 
of  the  desire  of  the  alien  to  become  a  citizen,  but  even 
of  his  faith  and  belief  in  his  adopted  country.  America 
is  treating  the  alien  like  the  proverbial  "red-headed 
step-child."  It  is  time  to  reunite  the  family. 
November,  19 19. 

1  The  statement  of  the  Bureau  of  Census  for  1920  reports 
that  47.8%  are  naturalized,  and  16.1%  have  taken  out  their 
first  papers:  This  for  the  men.  As  for  the  women,  52%  are 
naturalized.  The  grand  total  of  those  naturalized  is  49.9%, 
and  those  having  taken  out  their  first  papers  is  17.5%,  thus 
giving  a  final  total  of  67.4%  who  have  either  taken  out  their 
first  papers  or  becx>me  naturalized. 


55 


VI 
THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 


THE  position  of  the  immigrant  workman,  as 
differentiated  from  that  of  the  native  born  in 
our  industrial  life,  is  somewhat  peculiar.  He 
stands  in  the  middle  with  both  ends  playing  against 
him.  He  represents  the  mass  of  unskilled  labor  in  this 
country,  and  he  represents  likewise  the  greater  portion 
of  unorganized  labor.  He  has  not  been  encouraged  to 
organize  either  by  his  employers  or  by  Labor  itself. 
Why?  Because  the  employer  who  encourages  organiza- 
tion among  his  men  is  rare  at  best,  and  because  Labor 
has  always  looked  upon  him  as  an  intruder  whose 
position  must  not  be  permitted  to  solidify.  And  all 
the  time  the  immigrant  population  has  been  growing. 
This  condition  has  provided  an  additional  twist  in 
the  industrial  complex.  The  immigrant  laborer  has 
come  to  stand  for  the  **X,"  the  unknown  quantity  in 
the  long-sought  equation  between  Capital  and  Labor. 
The  employer  accuses  him  of  fomenting  strikes  and 
industrial  agitation.  Labor  uses  him  as  a  scapegoat 
when  anything  of  an  untoward  nature  occurs.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  immigrant,  as  the  figures  show  plainly, 
is  slower  to  strike  than  his  native  brother.  He  is  also, 
however,  slower  to  abandon  a  strike  when  once  he  has 
embarked  upon  it.  His  own  complaint  is  that  too  often 
he  is  bullied  and  inveigled  into  striking  by  native 
Americans,  who,   when  once  the  pinch  comes,   walk 

56 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

out,  return  to  work,  and  leave  him  holding  the  bag. 
There  is  a  germ  of  truth  in  all  this,  and,  as  usual,  there 
is  much  to  be  said  on  all  sides. 

If  we  are  to  regard  the  situation  between  organized 
Capital  and  organized  Labor  as  one  of  war,  then  we  must 
confess  that  Capital  has  had  by  far  the  best  generals. 
The  immigrant  has  provided  the  split  in  the  Labor  ranks. 
Capital  has  treated  him  as  an  outsider  and  has  en- 
couraged Labor  to  do  the  same.  Labor  has  been 
foolish  enough  to  fall  into  the  trap,  so  that,  instead  of 
swelling  its  ranks  with  the  foreign  born  it  has  per- 
mitted a  barrier  to  spring  up  between  them. 

The  sum  total  of  all  this  has  been  the  practical  isola- 
tion of  the  alien.  Socially  he  has  always  been  isolated. 
He  has  been  forced  to  congregate  in  small  and  congested 
colonies  of  his  own,  largely  by  reason  of  the  concen- 
trated provincialism  of  the  average  American  com- 
munity. But  at  least  his  social  isolation  has  been  the 
result  of  misunderstanding;  it  has  not  been,  as  has  his 
industrial  isolation,  the  result  of  a  deliberately  thought 
out  plan.  Isolation  of  whatever  kind  has  been  bad  for 
the  immigrant.  It  has  embittered  him ;  it  has  prevented 
his  taking  an  active  part  in  American  life;  it  has  in- 
hibited any  powers  he  might  have  of  functioning  as  an 
integral  portion  of  the  national  entity.  But  the  im- 
migrant has  not  been  the  only  loser. 

There  may  have  been,  indeed  there  was,  a  seemingly 
immediate  advantage  to  the  employer  in  adopting 
these  tactics  toward  the  immigrant.  But  if  there  ever 
was  an  advantage,  it  was  no  more  than  immediate. 
The  first  fine  spurt  is  over  and  the  long  run  is  beginning 
to  tell.  We  are  beginning  to  realize  that  it  is  primarily 
essential  for  the  welfare  of  industry  in  America  that 

57 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

we  have  national  unity.  Without  that  there  can  be 
no  progress,  and  if  we  cannot  go  forward  we  must 
go  back. 

II 

In  his  excellent  study  entitled  "America  via  the 
Neighborhood,"  John  Daniels  makes  the  following 
points:  Union  membership  is  based  upon  occupation 
rather  than  locality.  Nevertheless  some  unions  are 
composed  almost  entirely  of  one  race.  These  unions 
hold  their  meetings  in  their  mother  tongue.  Most 
unions  of  this  type  are  neighborhood  affairs,  because 
the  larger  portion  of  their  members  live  in  one  immi- 
grant colony.  They  are  integral  units  of  a  supposedly 
inclusive  American  organization.  Through  these  racial 
unions,  the  conception  and  ideals  of  the  national  or- 
ganization are  infused  into  the  colony  neighborhood. 
When  there  are  a  number  of  racial  unions  in  the  same 
immigrant  colony,  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  for 
these  to  federate  among  themselves  while  still  main- 
taining separate  relations  with  their  respective  craft 
organizations.  For  instance,  Bohemian  carpenters, 
plumbers,  and  steel  workers  draw  membership  from 
one  large  Bohemian  colony  and  have  their  own  central 
council,  in  which  all  are  represented,  to  act  upon 
matters  of  common  concern,  such  as  promoting  union 
organization,  collecting  and  distributing  relief  in  time 
of  strikes,  acting  as  mediator,  and  such  like  affairs. 
Each  separate  union  is  an  integral  part  of  the  general 
union,  thus  linking  the  neighborhood  with  the  larger 
community,  and  ultimately,  in  theory  at  least,  with 
the  nation. 

Mr.  Daniels'  points  are  interesting  and  suggestive, 
and  I  further  believe  that  upon  analysis  they  will  be 

58 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

found  to  bear  out  the  more  general  statement  I  have 
given  just  before  them.  A  change  in  the  situation  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  years  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
in  1900  the  total  membership  of  labor  unions  was 
estimated  at  1,000,000,  whereas  to-day  this  figure  has 
risen  to  5,000,000.  This  great  increase  is  said  to  be 
largely  due  to  the  unionization  of  our  immigrant  pop- 
ulation, and  this  may  be  true  enough.  The  point  I 
wish  to  stress  is  the  essential  difference  between  the 
man  of  foreign  birth  and  the  man  of  foreign  descent. 
It  is  the  first  with  whom  we  are  dealing  here,  but  I 
believe  that  it  is  to  the  second  that  this  increase  is 
due.  The  problem  of  Americanization,  taken  in  any 
of  its  phases,  must  concern  itself  primarily  with  the 
first-generation  immigrant,  not  with  him  of  the  second 
or  third  generation,  for  with  these  the  whole  approach 
to  the  question  is  essentially  different. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  point  out  what  is  probably 
the  one  instance  of  an  alien  strike  which  met  with 
triumphant  success.  The  Russian  Jews  struck  in  1906 
against  sweatshop  conditions.  Through  this  strike 
they  effected  a  permanent  organization  which  almost 
controls  the  clothing  trade,  they  doubled  their  wages, 
and  reduced  hours  to  the  regulation  forty-four. 

Lescohier,  in  his  "Labor  Market,"  makes  the  fol- 
lowing tabulation  of  all  foreign-born  males  who  come 
to  this  country.    He  says  that  they  constitute 

I /i 4  of  all  the  agricultural  labor 

3/4  of  all  the  tailors 

1/2  of  all  the  cabinet  makers 

I  /2  of  all  the  miners 

2/5  of  all  the  boot,  shoe,  and  textile  workers 

I  /3  of  all  the  iron  and  steel  workers 

I  /4  of  all  the  carpenters  and  painters 

1/5  of  all  the  sawmill  workers 

59 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Popular  interest  is  probably  largely  concentrated  at 
present  in  the  one-fourteenth  who  have  gone  to  the 
land  for  their  livelihood.  Germans  constitute  33.13 
per  cent  of  these,  the  next  highest  being  the  Swedes, 
with  10.07  pei*  cent,  and  the  lowest  being  the  Hunga- 
rians, with  .'yj  per  cent.  It  is  claimed  that  immi- 
grants from  Northwestern  Europe  are  the  model 
farmers  for  America,  but  that  those  from  Southern  and 
Eastern  Europe  are  undesirable  in  agriculture,  because 
of  their  lack  of  foresight  and  business  sense.  In  gen- 
eral terms  this  may  well  be  true;  but  that  it  is  subject 
to  many  and  notable  exceptions  will  be  readily  realized 
by  anyone  who  is  at  all  conversant  with  farming  con- 
ditions in  the  last  two  sections  of  Europe  mentioned. 

It  was  the  Lithuanian  immigrants  who  formed 
McNaughton's  Farmers'  Union  for  the  better  protec- 
tion of  farmers,  and  in  fact  nearly  all  of  the  progressive 
movements  among  American  agriculturists  have  found 
their  inception  in  our  immigrant  population.  The 
great  cooperative  movement  now  spreading  through 
the  West  and  Northwest  is  an  importation  from 
Northern  Europe,  and  the  student  of  political  as  well 
as  of  industrial  economics  will  find  the  work  already  done 
along  this  line  well  worthy  of  his  most  serious  atten- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  when  a  certain  agricultural 
society  sent  out  30,000  Jews  from  New  York  with  the 
purpose  of  settling  them  on  farms,  it  was  found  that 
ultimately  90  per  cent  of  them  had  gravitated  into  in- 
dustrial occupations,  while  the  remaining  10  per  cent 
still  to  be  found^  on  the  land,  only  kept  alive  by 
taking  in  boarders.  It  is  thus  apparent  that  an  indis- 
criminate and  enforced  migration  back  to  the  soil  will 
be  abortive  in  the  very  nature  of  things. 

^See  note  on  p.  242.  60 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

III 

A  short  and  necessarily  incomplete  summary  of  the 
distribution  of  the  immigrant  population  along  indus- 
trial lines  will  suggest  the  ^cope  and  complexity  of  the 
situation.  It  will  also  serve  to  indicate  to  how  great 
an  extent  we  depend  on  the  immigrant  for  our  indus- 
trial output.^ 

The  Lithuanian  immigrants,  like  the  Poles,  belong 
largely  to  the  agricultural  classes  at  home,  but  few  of 
them  have  become  farmers  in  this,  their  adopted 
country.  Shorter  hours,  higher  pay,  what  they  think 
may  be  easier  lives,  cause  them  to  gravitate  toward 
factory  and  mill,  even  though  they  came  here  with  the 
intention  of  going  to  rural  sections.  The  largest  col- 
onies of  Lithuanians  are  found  in  New  York  City,  in 
the  large  New  England  cities  such  as  Boston,  and  in 
the  mines  and  steel  mills  of  Pennsylvania.  The  mines 
of  West  Virginia,  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Washington  claim 
large  numbers  of  them  also.  In  fact,  mining  seems  to 
have  attracted  the  majority  of  the  race  living  in  this 
country.  They  figure  extensively,  too,  in  the  textile 
industries  of  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Illinois,  and 
Wisconsin,  while  in  New  York  City  and  in  Baltimore 
there  are  many  Lithuanian  tailors.     The  car  shops  in 

1  "Immigrants  come  at  the  best  and  most  useful,  most  pro- 
ductive age.  The  immigration  laws  keep  out  aged,  infirm,  and 
those  likely  to  become  a  public  charge.  In  intrinsic  or  physical 
worth  to  the  United  States,  they  are  a  rich  addition.  An  Italian 
economist  figured  each  able-bodied  man  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
has  cost  the  state  from  $  i ,  500  to  $  i  ,800  to  raise  to  maturity.  At 
that  rate  in  one  year,  say  1907,  the  United  States  was  enriched 
by  $2,040,000,000,  at  the  cost  of  the  countries  which  had  brought 
up  these  immigrants,  and  without  a  cent  of  expense  to  the 
United  States.  The  great  majority  of  men  of  foreign  birth  had 
some  military  training  before  they  came  to  this  country." — 
From  Bridging  the  Atlantic,  by  Professor  Sarka  B.  Hrbkova. 

61 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

the  Western  and  Middle  Western  States  have  many 
Lithuanian  carpenters,  painters,  and  the  like. 

The  majority  of  the  Ukrainian  immigrants  are  east 
of  the  Mississippi.  There  are  300,000  of  them  in  all, 
distributed  throughout  the  country.  In  Pennsylvania, 
they  are  miners  and  iron  and  steel  workers;  in  New 
York,  they  are  in  metals  and  machinery;  in  Detroit, 
they  are  busy  making  automobiles;  in  New  England, 
they  are  in  demand  in  the  car  shops ;  while  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  want  them  for  shipbuilding.  Again, 
in  New  York  and  in  Philadelphia  many  are  tailors  and 
textile  workers.  They  are  in  request  in  the  large  hotels 
of  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  and  in  the 
Middle  West  they  go  back  again  to  the  soil  and  are 
found  on  farms.  A  clever  and  adaptable  race,  these 
Ukrainian  immigrants  are  able  to  turn  their  hands 
to  many  diverse  occupations  and  to  make  good  in 
all,  although  at  home  they  are  mostly  of  peasant 
stock. 

The  Scandinavians  take  more  to  farming  than  do 
the  members  of  any  of  the  other  groups,  and  those  who 
do  not  do  so  are  usually  skilled  laborers  whose  presence 
is  highly  desirable.  The  Norwegians  and  the  Swedes, 
for  instance,  who  are  often  talented  in  woodworking, 
readily  find  employment  in  furniture  factories. 

Finns  settle  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Great  Lakes,  as 
the  climate  of  that  neighborhood  rather  suggests  Fin- 
land. Many  of  them,  especially  the  small  farmers, 
take  up  lumbering  in  the  winter.  Others  drift  west, 
where  they  are  found  in  the  copper  mines  of  Montana. 
Some  do  well  as  skilled  workers  in  such  trades  as 
paperhanging,  carpentering,  and  plumbing. 

6z 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

Slovaks  are  efficient  in  the  mining  and  steel  indus- 
tries, and  are  also  workers  with  lumber.  They  often 
appear  working  with  the  Czechs. 

It  is  estimated  that  fully  50  per  cent  of  the  miners 
in  the  United  States  are  Hungarians.  It  was  esti- 
mated in  19 1 9  that  90  per  cent  of  them  would  return 
to  Hungary,  and  that  consequently  there  would  be  a 
great  shortage,  especially  in  the  coal  fields.  This  pre- 
diction, however,  was  only  realized  in  small  part. 
A  group  of  Hungarian  miners  in  Himler,  West  Vir- 
ginia, several  years  ago  were  able  to  buy  a  mine  and 
are  now  operating  it  as  an  independent  property  and 
on  a  mutual  profit-sharing  basis.  They  bought  an 
additional  mine  for  $1,000,000  not  long  ago,  the  share- 
holders of  which  are  all  Hungarian  miners.  There  are 
a  number  of  skilled  workmen  among  the  Hungarians 
in  this  country  who  earn  in  good  times  $50  to  $100 
weekly.  These  are  most  of  them  artists  at  their  trades 
and  could  hardly  be  replaced,  or  at  least  not  for  some 
time,  should  they  return  to  Hungary.  Ford,  in  Detroit, 
employs  several  thousand  skilled  Hungarian  mechanics. 
These  are  for  the  most  part  of  very  high-grade  intelli- 
gence, and  are  nearly  all  of  them  American  citizens. 

The  German  immigrant  is  no  longer  to  be  found  in 
large  colonies  in  the  United  States,  except  in  those  of 
long  standing.  The  work  in  which  they  predominated, 
the  brewing  industry,  is  fast  disintegrating,  and  in  this 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  German 
brewers  were  very  eager  to  have  every  newcomer  be- 
come a  citizen  as  soon  as  possible.  This  was,  of  course, 
for  political  reasons,  to  increase  their  effective  po- 
litical force  to  fight  prohibition.  There  was  a  time 
when  grocers,  bakers,  and  butchers  were  largely  Ger- 

63 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

man,  but  the  centralization  of  industry  and  the  rise 
of  the  chain  stores  has  done  away  with  that  to  a  great 
degree.  The  German  immigrants  belonging  to  the 
older  immigration  have  become  fairly  well  mixed  with 
the  general  population  so  far  as  industry  is  concerned. 

The  Italians  form  a  large  part  of  the  American 
industrial  mass.  In  the  East  the  majority  of  the 
Italians  work  in  the  garment  industry,  although  many 
are  employed  in  other  lines.  Many  of  them  work  in 
the  shipyards  and  in  the  mines,  especially  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  there  are  a  number  also  in  steel-working 
and  various  metal  industries.  On  the  west  coast 
there  are  a  large  number  to  be  found  in  shipyards. 
This  applies  to  the  skilled  laborer  rather  than  to  the 
pick-and-shovel  man,  who  is  scattered  throughout  the 
country  in  railroad  and  municipal  work. 

The  Russians  appear  in  large  numbers  in  the  packing 
industries  of  Chicago,  but  they  are  found  in  all  the 
large  industrial  centers.  Thousands  of  them  are  em- 
ployed in  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  and  in  Waterbury,, 
in  the  same  state.  Although  they  are  good  workers, 
they  have  not  been  considered  so  desirable  lately 
among  employers,  because  a  limited  number  of  Rus- 
sians are  associated  with  radical  movements.  Hence 
there  is  a  marked  tendency  to  question  them  as  to 
their  American  citizenship,  and  to  catechize  them  on 
their  political  and  social  views.  There  are  many  in- 
stances where  Russians  have  been  discharged  from 
service  on  any  small  pretense.  There  are  many  es- 
tablishments to-day  which  refuse  to  employ  an  alien 
who  has  not  declared  his  intention  of  becoming  a  cit- 
izen. Industries  are  not  working  with  their  full  force, 
and  this  has  left  many  Russians  out  of  employment, 

64 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 


while  most  of  them  only  work  part  of  the  time.  This 
is  due  to  no  disinclination  on  their  part  to  work,  but 
to  the  fact  that  they  are  unable  to  get  employment. 
This  fact,  more  than  any  other,  causes  the  present  dis- 
satisfaction among  the  laboring  class  and  its  trend 
toward  radicalism.  Thousands  of  Russians  throughout 
the  country  are  6ut  of  work  through  no  fault  of  their  own. 

IV 

Especially  in  view  of  the  persistent  rumors  to  the 
effect  that  immigrant  labor  has  been  earning  huge  sums 
of  money  during  the  last  few  years,  it  may  be  of  value 
to  quote  a  few  figures  on  the  matter. 

During  one  of  the  income  tax  crises  about  a  year 
ago  a  survey  was  made  in  Chicago  of  a  number  of 
cases.  One  hundred  typical  examples  were  selected 
showing  their  incomes  for  191 8,  the  tax  assessments, 
and  the  refunds  claimed.  As  this  year  marked  the 
peak  of  war  prices,  it  should  show  wages  at  their  highest. 
There  has  been  no  attempt  to  select  these  cases  with 
a  view  to  making  a  point . 


19 1 8  Incomes       | 

Tax  Assessments 

Refunds  Claimed 

Under 

$500, 

I 

Under  $25, 

10 

Under  $25, 

10 

From 

To 

From 

To 

From 

lb 

$500 

1 ,000, 

10 

$25 

50, 

II 

$25 

50, 

21 

1 ,000 

1 ,  100, 

3 

50 

Ty. 

6 

50 

7%^. 

6 

1 ,  100 

1 ,  200, 

1 1 

75 

100, 

4 

75 

100, 

5 

1 ,200 

1 ,  300, 

16 

100 

1^5, 

4 

100 

125, 

42 

1,300 

I ,400, 

16 

125 

150, 

20 

125 

150, 

6 

1 ,400 

1,500, 

lb 

150 

175, 

27 

150 

175, 

7 

1 ,500 

I ,600, 

12 

175 

200, 

14 

175 

200, 

2 

1 ,600 

1,700, 

5 

Above 

200, 

4 

Over 

200, 

I 

1,700 

1,800, 

6 

1,800 

1,900, 

4 
100 

100 

100 

Total 

Total 

Total 

Income, 

$134,3^6 

•03 

Assessm't  $  1 2 

,362.94 

Refunds,  $10, 

110.78 

100  cases 

100  cases 

100  cases 

65 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Further  than  this,  we  may  instance  figures  com- 
piled by  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  These  show  that  the  wages 
of  coal  miners  prior  to  August  i6,  1920,  were  $4.76. 
per  day,  $28.56  per  week,  and  $1,485.12  per  year. 
After  August  16,  1920,  these  wages  were  raised  to 
$7.12  per  day,  $42.72  per  week,  and  $2,221.44  per  year. 
More  than  this,  the  Interchurch  report  on  the  steel 
strike  of  191 9  gives  $46.78  as  the  average  earning  per 
week  of  all  employees.  The  following  correlative  data, 
however,  is  most  significant:  In  the  anthracite  dis- 
tricts the  company  miners  make  $29.98  per  week,  while 
the  contract  miners  make  $43.45.  In  the  bituminous 
territory  hand  mining  brings  $37.08  F>er  week,  while 
mechanical  mining  brings  $45.55.  The  United  States 
Council  of  National  Defense  in  its  pamphlet  on  the 
"High  Cost  of  Living,"  gives  two  coal  miners'  budgets, 
which  are  especially  interesting  when  taken  in  con- 
junction with  the  sums  just  given.  The  Ogburn  budget 
gives  $2,118.94,  with  an  increase  of  3  per  cent  to 
May,  1920,  making  $2,182.51.  The  Lawrence  budget 
of  November,  191 9,  gives  $1,658.94,  with  an  8  per 
cent  increase  to  May,  1920,  making  $1,799.68.  These 
budgets  do  not  include  savings.  In  spite  of  these 
figures,  which  have  been  readily  accessible  to  every- 
one, it  has  been  stated  in  print  as  late  as  August,  1920, 
that  coal  miners  were  averaging  $4,999  ^  year.  The 
absurdity  of  this  is  manifest.^ 

^**In  a  government  investigation  made  by  Jenks  and  Lauck, 
(p.  280),  of  17,628  families,  the  heads  of  which  were  employed 
in  the  principal  divisions  of  mining  and  manufacturing  enter- 
prises, it  was  shown  that  of  1,187  families,  native  bom,  of  native 
father,  white,  259  (21.8%)  owned  homes;  of  788  families,  native- 
bom,  of  foreign  father,  202  (26.6%)  owned  homes;  of  15,511 
families,  foreign  born,  of  native  father,   3,306  (21.6%)  owned 

66 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

V 

The  employer  who  adopts  arbitrarily  a  plan  of  Amer- 
icanization and  then  drops  it  down  like  a  wet  blanket 
on  his  foreign-born  employees  can  hardly  hope  for 
success.  He  doesn't  deserve  it.  It's  like  the  old  story 
of  the  widow  who  told  her  son  that  she  was  going  to 
marry  Dr.  Jones.  "Bully  for  you,  Ma!"  responded  her 
offspring.  "Does  Dr.  Jones  know  it?"  And  perhaps 
when  the  doctor  found  out  what  was  going  to  happen, 
the  widow's  plans  were  altered. 

At  the  very  outset  it  might  as  well  be  fully  under- 
stood that  the  individual  employer  has  "no  specific  or 
immediate  benefit  to  gain  through  Americanization. 
The  simple  and  oft-quoted  matter  of  decrease  of  acci- 
dents and  decrease  in  loss  of  material  spoiled,  and  tools 
and  machinery  lost  and  broken  has  little  to  do  with  the 
problem.  The  immigrant  laborer  can  be  cautioned 
against  accidents  in  his  native  language  quite  as  well 
as  in  English,  and  he  can  equally  be  instructed  in  his 
work  and  in  the  care  of  his  tools.  Americanization  has 
nothing  to  offer  here.  More  than  this,  if  the  employer 
hopes  to  influence  his  immigrant  workmen  either 
politically,  socially,  or  economically,  he  is  fostering 
un-Americanism  of  the  most  dangerous  kind.  This  is 
propaganda,  but  it  is  not  Americanization.  Likewise, 
this   is   exactly  what  Americanization   has    come    to 

homes  (p.  281).  The  Bohemians  and  Moravians  show  the 
largest  proportion  of  home  owning  families  of  all  races  the 
heads  of  which  were  native  Born  of  foreign  father,  or  foreign 
born. 

"Another  proof  of  the  thrift  of  foreigners  is  shown  by  the 
Post  Office  Department.  Of  $13,000,000  deposited  in  the  postal 
savings  banks  of  New  York  City,  more  than  $11,000,000  is 
owned  by  foreign-bom  residents." — F'rom  Bridging  the  Atlantic, 
by  Professor  Sarka  B.  Hrbkova. 

67 


y 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

mean  to  the  immigrant.  He  regards  it  as  part  of  the 
open-shop  war,  as  a  portion  of  the  anti-radical  propa- 
ganda of  the  Palmer  campaign.  As  long  as  Ameri- 
canization is  tied  up  with  these  things  in  the  alien's 
mind  it  will  be  an  abortive  process.  And  there  is  no 
use  in  trying  to  camouflage  it.  The  immigrant  knows. 
He  is  not  a  fool  simply  because  he  cannot  speak  English. 
The  chief  reason  for  Americanization,  either  in  industry 
or  out  of  it,  is  the  possible  benefit  accruing  to  the 
nation  itself  in  that  potential  citizens  are  being 
developed  for  it.  And  by  "citizens"  I  do  not  simply 
mean  persons  who  are  able  to  vote  because  of  their  legal 
right  to  do  so,  but  men  and  women  who  know  what 
they  are  voting  for  and  why;  who  are  able  to  vote 
intelligently  according  to  their  own  lights,  and  not 
mechanically  according  to  the  reflected  light  of  some- 
one else.  An  intelligent  citizenry,  who  is  able  to  think 
for  itself  and  who  has  both  the  will  and  the  courage 
to  put  its  thoughts  into  action,  is  the  best  and  soundest 
foundation  upon  which  any  employer  can  build.  Any 
man  who  is  afraid  to  have  the  truth  known  about  his 
business  is  certainly  not  fit  to  train  the  future  citizens 
of  a  democracy. 

One  might  as  well  be  candid  and  confess  that  in 
the  past  far  too  many  employers  did  not  encourage 
education  of  any  kind  among  their  immigrant  em- 
ployees, simply  because  they  were  afraid  that,  if  they 
did,  the  employees  would  come  to  know  too  much  for 
the  entire  advantage  of  the  employer.  Nothing  could 
have  been  more  futile  and  short-sighted.  The  second 
step  came  when  these  employers  realized  the  error 
they  had  made  and  started  in  to  do  the  educating 
themselves  and  along  their  own  lines.    This  was,  and 

68 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

is,  not  education  but  sheer  propaganda.  One  thing  is 
certain,  and  that  is  that  propaganda  is  poor  business, 
no  matter  who  does  it.  Sooner  or  later  the  ones  who 
have  been  victimized  wake  up,  and  the  propagandizer 
pays  the  bill.  As  Lincoln  said,  "You  can  fool  some  of 
the  people  all  the  time  and  all  the  people  some  of  the 
time,  but  you  can't  fool  all  the  people  all  the  time." 
There  is  no  better  motto  than  that  for  pseudo-Ameri- 
canizers,  whether  they  are  in  industrial  plants  or 
outside. 

Let  us  say,  for  instance,  that  a  man  has  a  plant  em- 
ploying a  considerable  percentage  of  foreign-born  labor. 
For  some  reason  best  known  to  himself,  we  will  as- 
sume it  to  be  a  sane  if  not  a  specifically  generous  one, 
he  decides  to  Americanize  them.  First  he  must  make 
a  survey.  He  must  know  just  what  foreign-born 
groups  he  has,  where  they  come  from,  how  long  they 
have  been  here,  what  they  are  doing,  and  what  they 
are  best  fitted  to  do.  Then  he  must  ask  each  group 
to  appoint  a  spokesman  or  a  committee  to  meet  with 
him  or  with  his  representative  to  discuss  the  matter. 
Each  group  must  be  talked  with  separately,  for  each 
may  have  different  ideas  on  the  subject,  and  it  is  wise 
to  avoid  conflict.  In  the  discussion  that  follows,  the 
primary  thing  to  be  ascertained  is  exactly  what  each 
group  believes  that  it  needs.  Once  this  is  determined, 
the  time  has  come  to  see  how  it  may  best  be  given 
them.  Very  likely  it  will  be  found  that  the  majority 
of  the  foreign-born  workers  are  members  of  some 
fraternal,  social,  or  benefit  organization  which  has  a 
local  chapter  within  easy  reach.  If  possible,  these 
local  branches  of  the  foreign-language  organizations 
should  be  called  into  consultation.     It  may  be  that 

69 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

they  will  not  have  anything  very  specific  to  contribute, 
but  if  once  they  are  assured  that  the  employer  is 
honestly  trying  to  do  his  best  without  ulterior  motive, 
their  cooperation  is  worth  having.  At  this  juncture, 
also,  the  question  of  teachers  will  doubtless  arise.  And 
here  we  can  make  a  flat  statement:  It  is  better  to 
have  teachers  who  are  natives  of  the  groups  that  are 
to  be  taught.  American  teachers  who  do  not  under- 
stand the  language,  customs,  and  traditions  of  their 
pupils  are  quite  as  likely  to  do  harm  as  good.  Their 
psychology  is  too  essentially  different.  The  employer 
may  wonder  how  he  is  to  check  the  work  that  is  being 
done  and  how  he  is  to  assure  himself  that  the  foreign- 
born  teachers  are  not  indulging  in  radical  propaganda 
of  one  kind  or  another.  There  are  two  ways,  other 
than  by  understanding  the  language,  by  which  he  can 
attain  this  assurance.  In  the  first  place,  he  ought  to 
be  able  to  size  up  the  teacher  as  accurately  as  he  sizes 
up  any  other  man  or  woman.  In  the  second  place,  if 
he  has  gained  the  confidence  of  his  foreign-born  em- 
ployees, if  he  has  made  friends  of  them  and  their 
associates,  he  can  pretty  well  rest  easy.  It  seems  like 
a  glittering  generality,  but  nevertheless  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  foreign  born  are  loyal  to  those  who  are 
loyal  to  them.  It  is  distinctly  up  to  the  employer 
to  prove  that  he  is  loyal;  otherwise  he  cannot 
complain  if  the  loyalty  of  his  employees  goes  else- 
where. The  rest  is  all  detail,  and  is  all  dependent  on 
the  particular  and  individual  problem  with  which 
the  employer  is  confronted.  After  this  point  each 
situation  must  be  judged  on  its  merits,  and  each 
will  probably  present  some  peculiar  angle  of  ap- 
proach. 

70 


THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  INDUSTRY 

There  are  a  few  things  to  be  borne  constantly  in 
mind,  if  this  Americanization  experiment  is  to  be  a 
success.  The  foreign  born  have  been  intimidated  by 
the  intensive  campaign  carried  on  for  the  past  three 
years  which  has  endeavored  to  tie  up  anything  foreign 
with  everything  radical.  The  immigrant  population 
has  been  made  suspicious  of  all  so-called  Americaniza- 
tion, because  so  much  of  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Americanizer  and  so  little  for  the  good  of  the  Ameri- 
canized. They  are  cautious,  and  rightfully  so.  What 
they  need  is  service;  information  as  to  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  country,  especially  such  laws  and 
customs  as  affect  them  most.  They  must  know  our 
traditions  and  backgrounds,  and  they  must  learn  that 
if  their  present  situation  does  not  square  with  those 
traditions  we  regret  it  as  much  as  they,  and  stand 
ready  to  cooperate  with  them  in  rectifying  these 
things.  The  foreign  born  must  be  helped  to  Ameri- 
canize themselves,  for  we  cannot  hope  to  Americanize 
them.  It  is  not  reasonable  that  we  should.  Once 
given  the  opportunity,  they  will  do  far  better  for  them- 
selves than  we  could  do  for  them.  The  employer  who 
understands  this  and  who  appreciates  it  in  its  full 
significance  has  won  half  the  battle.  For  years  past 
we  have  directly  and  systematically  discouraged  the 
efforts  of  the  immigrant  to  better  himself,  and  so  to 
better  the  community.  Now  we  insist  that  if  the  job 
is  to  be  done  at  all,  we  are  the  only  ones  to  do  it.  In 
this  we  are  wrong.  The  immigrant  is  ready  and  willing 
to  help  himself.  It  is  up  to  us  to  see  that  he  is  given 
the  chance.  Americanization  in  industry  will  succeed 
only  when  the  alien  himself  does  the  Americanizing. 
Give  him  the  opportunity  and  he  will. 

August,  192 1  -J 


VII 
THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 


IT  has  been  remarked  that  there  are  very  definite 
reasons  for  feeling  that  the  presence  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  in  America  is  something  of  a  menace 
to  that  assimilation  of  the  immigrant  for  which  we 
are  striving.  This  is,  however,  merely  the  proverbially 
dangerous  half-truth,  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
foreign-language  press  has  been,  and  is,  one  of  the 
warmest,  most  ardent,  and  efficient  workers  in  the 
field  of  patriotic  stimulation.  The  time  will  come  and 
must  come  when  the  one  language  written  and  spoken 
in  this  country  will  be  English,  but  the  process  is 
gradual,  and  for  many  reasons  it  cannot  be  otherwise. 
Many  immigrants  cannot  read  or  write  at  all,  even 
their  own  language,  much  less  ours,  and  there  is  a  far 
greater  percentage  who  must  at  the  outset  be  kept  in 
touch  with  American  life,  official  and  general,  who 
would  be  rendered  utterly  helpless  by  the  restriction 
of  their  press  to  the  sole  use  of  the  English  language. 
We  say  that  the  immigrant  should  be  taught  English.. 
True,  but  what  is  going  to  happen  to  him  while  he  is 
learning?  That  process,  due  in  large  part  to  our  own 
excessively  faulty  method  of  instruction,  is  more  often 
than  not  slow,  and  to  cut  the  pupil  off  from  the  news 
of  the  world  at  large  and  from  that  of  his  adopted 
country  in  particular  while  he  is  a  student  would  be 

72 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

nothing  less  than  criminal  folly.  Moreover,  there  will 
develop  in  the  course  of  the  following  paragraphs  other 
reasons  not  less  potent  for  regarding  the  present  con- 
dition of  affairs  as  susceptible  to  gradual  change  and 
development,  rather  than  to  abrupt  and  radical  pro- 
hibition or  restriction. 

In  the  middle  of  191 4  the  Ukrainian  press  in  this 
country  comprised  five  papers,  all  of  them  weeklies. 
At  present  ten  Ukrainian  papers  are  published  in  the 
United  States,  among  them  one  daily  and  four  tri- 
weeklies. For  the  last  five  years  the  volume  of  the 
Ukrainian  press  shows  an  increase  of  470%,  and  the 
circulation  one  of  700%.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the 
War  the  Ukrainian  papers  in  this  country  merely  re- 
printed the  news  from  the  home  country  periodicals, 
but  now  they  devote  nearly  as  much  space  to  American 
topics  and  to  world  politics  as  to  Ukrainian  affairs. 
This  unquestionably  shows  a  tendency  to  progress  in 
the  right  direction. 

The  Scandinavian  press  has  a  somewhat  different 
tale  to  tell.  From  March,  191 8,  a  careful  watch  was 
kept  on  this  press,  and  at  first  one  could  detect  a 
strained  and  rather  unfriendly  tone.  In  a  very  few 
instances  articles  unpatriotic  in  tone  were  noted,  while 
a  few  were  decidedly  against  the  United  States.  There 
were  also  expressions  of  feeling  regarding  the  ruling 
which  forced  some  papers  to  file  translations  of  articles 
concerning  the  war  while  others  were  exempt.  This 
complaint  was  common,  however.  In  two  or  three 
months,  though,  all  of  these  issues  were  adjusted  sat- 
isfactorily, and  from  that  time  on  the  Scandinavian 
press  as  a  whole,  with  the  Dutch  and  Finnish,  can  be 
called  frankly  loyal. 

73 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Little  change  has  been  noted  since  the  armistice. 
Not  quite  as  much  space  has  been  given  to  Ameri- 
canization as  was  given  during  the  war,  but  this  is 
natural.  It  is  due  not  to  any  lack  of  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  press  to  forward  this  work,  but  because  of  a 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  editors  that  Americanization 
has  been  rather  overdone,  as  indeed  it  has.  This  is 
an  inevitable  point  of  view,  and  is  in  no  way  inimical. 
On  the  whole,  there  is  no  reason  to  regard  this  press 
other  than  optimistically. 

The  situation  with  regard  to  the  German  press  is 
naturally  somewhat  different.  Two  years  ago  there 
were  about  500  German-language  newspapers  and  pub- 
lications of  all  kinds  in  the  United  States.  During  the 
War  the  German  press  had  a  precarious  existence,  and 
at  the  present  time  the  number  of  periodicals  is  344. 
About  ten  newspapers  formerly  published  in  German 
are  now  printed  in  English,  and  a  few  which  were 
printed  solely  in  German  are  now  printed  partly  in 
German  and  partly  in  English. 

Of  the  344  German-language  periodicals  now  in 
existence  twenty-nine  are  dailies,  while  the  rest  are 
weeklies,  bi-  or  tri-weeklies,  fortnightlies,  or  monthlies. 
Among  the  344  there  are  many  trade  papers  and  re- 
ligious publications. 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  disappearance 
of  so  many  German-language  papers  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  that  the  circulation  of  this  press  has  de- 
creased in  a  corresponding  degree.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  after  the  disappearance  of  a  German-language 
paper  the  agents  of  the  survivors  immediately  try  to 
capture  the  circulation  of  the  suspended  publication. 
Since  the  signing  of  the  armistice  reports  have  been 

74 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

received  from  various  parts  of  the  country  regarding 
the  intended  republication  of  German-language  papers 
or  the  starting  of  new  ones.  It  is  safe  to  say,  how- 
ever, that  this  press  is  rather  on  the  decline  than 
otherwise,  and  that  the  "bitter  enders"  have  been  the 
first  to  go. 

Of  the  ICO  or  more  Czechoslovak  publications  which 
were  in  existence  in  191 5  a  number  in  certain  middle 
western  States,  the  legislatures  of  which  adopted 
radical  measures  opposed  to  the  foreign-language  press, 
lost  so  heavily  in  advertising  that  they  were  compelled 
to  suspend  publication.  This  was  a  frank  misfortune 
to  a  great  many,  inasmuch  as  these  papers  were  in 
many  instances  the  only  medium  of  authoritative  in- 
formation on  governmental  activities  which  affected 
the  foreign-speaking  groups. 

The  Czechoslovak  press  has  kept  its  readers  well 
informed  on  all  the  undertakings  of  our  Government, 
and  has  devoted  columns  and  full  pages  to  the  urging 
of  general  support  of  all  the  war-relief  activities.  In 
every  instance  all  that  was  necessary  to  insure  the 
active  support  of  the  Czechoslovaks  for  a  governmental 
appeal  was  to  inform  them  of  it. 

The  loyalty  of  this  group  has  been  noteworthy  in 
every  community  in  the  United  States.  Likewise,  a 
significant  fact  is  that  the  official  organs  of  the  larger 
and  more  influential  national  associations  and  federa- 
tions devote  from  two  to  eight  pages  to  matter  in  the 
English  language,  whereas  five  years  ago  not  a  single 
Czechoslovak  paper  published  so  much  as  a  column  of 
matter  in  English,  the  one  exception  being  a  student 
publication  issued  by  the  Komensky  (Comenius)  Ed- 
ucation Society.     Now  all  this  is  changed,  and  this 

7') 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

press  is  developing  rapidly  along  those  lines  which 
will  serve  to  bring  its  readers  into  closer  and  more 
intimate  touch  with  national  affairs. 

The  Jugoslav  press  consists  of  nine  Serbian  papers, 
eleven  Croatian,  and  thirteen  Slovene.  Of  these  there 
are  seven  dailies,  twenty-two  weeklies,  and  four 
monthlies.  Except  for  three  Socialist  papers,  belong- 
ing to  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  the  Socialist  left  wing 
and  right  wing,  and  two  religious  papers,  one  weekly 
and  one  monthly,  all  the  rest  are  strongly  nationalistic 
in  sentiment.  These  papers  are  published  six  in  New 
York,  fourteen  in  Chicago,  three  in  Pittsburgh,  three 
in  Cleveland,  three  in  San  Francisco,  two  in  Calumet, 
one  in  Joliet,  and  one  in  Milwaukee. 

With  the  exception  of  the  two  Socialist  papers,  the 
publications  worked  with  all  possible  energy  for  every 
activity  for  which  the  Government  asked  their  cooper- 
ation. Large  space  was  given  for  the  advertisements 
of  the  Liberty  and  Victory  Loans  and  for  the  War 
Savings  Stamps.  These  papers  have  proved  to  be 
most  patriotic,  working  at  the  same  time  for  the 
United  States  and  for  the  liberty  and  independence  of 
their  brethren  abroad.  At  the  present  time  they  are 
devoting  the  same  energy  to  forwarding  governmental 
affairs  and  propaganda  toward  the  necessary  assimila- 
tion of  the  Jugo-Slavs  in  this  country.  They  have 
acted  at  once  as  a  safety  valve,  a  court  of  appeal,  and 
a  wise  check  on  the  foreign-language  group  which 
comprises  their  readers. 

Since  the  outbreak  of  the  War  the  Hungarian  press 
in  this  country  has  supported  without  reservation  all 
American  movements.  It  has  taken  part  in  all  at- 
tempts at  assimilation,  supporting  the  Red  Cross,  the 

76 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the  Knights  of 
Columbus,  the  Liberty  and  Victory  Loans,  the  War 
Saving  Stamp  drives,  and  giving  pages  in  behalf  of 
every  effort  of  this  kind.  Since  the  armistice  this  press 
has  somewhat  divided  its  energies.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Socialist  papers,  all  the  publications  carry 
a  strong  anti-Bolshevik  propaganda.  In  their  view  of 
their  home  country  they  are  vacillating  between  the 
advocacy  of  a  republican  and  a  monarchical  institu- 
tion. They  are  supporting  Americanization  move- 
ments strongly,  and  are  discouraging  Hungarians  from 
leaving  the  United  States.  Like  our  own  papers,  they 
are  partly  in  favor  of  the  League  of  Nations  and  partly 
against  it.  On  the  whole,  the  tendency  is  thoroughly 
healthy  and  encouraging. 

In  the  Italian  papers,  and  there  are  nearly  150  of 
them,  including  daily,  weekly,  and  monthly  organs, 
not  one  instance  of  disloyalty  has  been  found.  They 
have  fought  constantly  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of 
patriotism  in  those  people  who  could  not  speak  the 
language  of  the  country  of  their  adoption,  and  to 
translate  and  interpret  the  various  activities  of  a 
governmental  nature,  which  are  so  vital  not  only  to 
the  welfare  of  the  alien,  but  to  that  of  the  country  as 
a  whole.  The  Italian  press  has  not  only  presented  a 
solid  wall  of  loyalty,  but  it  has  been  active  in  support 
of  everything  that  has  tended  to  weld  the  Italian  in 
this  country  into  the  very  fabric  of  the  national 
life. 

A  singular  feature  of  the  Lithuanian  press  is  that  it 
appeared  in  this  country  before  it  came  to  birth  in  its 
homeland,  which  formerly  suffered  from  Russian  op- 
pression.   The  Lithuanian  in  the  United  States  regards 

77 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

his  native-language  newspaper  not  only  as  a  medium 
of  news  and  infonnation,  but  also  as  the  expression 
of  a  patriotic  victory  for  which  he  and  his  forebears 
fought  for  long  ages.  There  are  not  many  Lithuanian 
periodicals  in  America,  but  all  are  flourishing.  While 
these  papers  have  been,  and  are,  intensely  loyal  to  the 
United  States,  they  have  been  primarily  devoted  to 
Lithuanian  affairs.  The  Lithuanian  remains  with  his 
own  people  to  a  greater  extent  than  is  advisable,  but 
again  this  is  largely  because  of  the  persecution  he  has 
undergone  in  the  past. 

In  several  instances  the  publishing  houses  which 
bring  out  some  of  the  stronger  Lithuanian  periodicals 
also  publish  books  in  the  native  tongue,  and  these 
firms  are  now  promoting  assimilation  by  translating 
works  which  create  a  tendency  toward  Americaniza- 
tion and  circulating  them  through  the  Lithuanian 
communities.    Their  work  is  well  organized  and  steady. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  should  speak  of  the 
suppression  or  even  the  limitation  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  just  at  a  time  when  we  have  so  much 
exact  information  to  be  transferred  and  interpreted 
to  the  immigrant  in  this  country.  As  a  New  York 
newspaper  said  editorially:  'The  Bar  Association  does 
well  in  condemning  the  foolish  bill  that  would  prohibit 
the  publication  of  any  newspaper  in  any  other  lan- 
guage than  English.  It  is  extremely  silly,  crude  pro- 
vincialism. The  spreading  of  the  use  of  English  is  to 
be  encouraged,  but  it  does  not  involve  the  shutting 
off  of  the  French,  Italian,  Greek,  or  even  German  press. 
The  foreign-language  papers  have  a  legitimate  field, 
and  most  of  them  are  usefully  and  even  strenuously 
American  in  tone,  though  their  vocabulary  be  Latin. 

78 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

Let  us  stick  to  common  sense  even  in  Americanizing 
the  immigrant/' 

This  is  wisely  said,  and  the  last  sentence  should  be 
the  key-note  of  all  our  efforts  along  this  line.  The 
foreign-language  press  in  America  has  been,  and  still 
is,  vitally  necessary.  For  every  move  it  has  made  on 
the  wrong  side  it  has  made  ten  on  the  right,  and  it  is 
an  essential  cog  in  the  wheel  of  naturalization.  It  has 
its  work  to  do,  and  when  that  work  is  finished  it  will 
die  a  perfectly  natural  death.    Until  then,  let  us  be  sane. 

November.  19 19. 


79 


VIII 
THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

II 

STATISTICS  are  never  conclusive,  but  they  are 
sometimes  very  indicative  of  a  general  trend, 
and  if  only  for  this  reason  it  may  be  well  to 
preface  this  chapter  with  a  few  figures  which  will  go 
to  show  in  some  wise  the  status  of  the  foreign-language 
press  in  America  as  well  as  that  of  its  readers.  These 
figures  are  approximate;  they  have  been  closely  es- 
timated, but  the  situation  changes  so  in  its  minor 
details  that  no  statement  remains  absolutely  exact  for 
more  than  a  few  days  at  a  time. 

There  is  a  total  of  approximately  1,285  foreign- 
language  papers  in  the  United  States.  The  circulation 
of  this  press  is  estimated  at  about  8,479,216.  The 
total  foreign-born  population  of  this  country  is  about 
16,615,121.  Of  this  population,  according  to  the 
census  of  1910,  there  are  2,953,011  who  cannot  speak 
or  read  English,  and  who  are  thus  absolutely  dependent 
on  the  foreign-language  press  for  their  daily  informa- 
tion. It  is  likewise  estimated  that  there  are  1,630,361 
who  are  illiterates;  that  is,  who  cannot  write;  for  in- 
ability to  write  constitutes  illiteracy,  regardless  of 
whether  one  can  read  or  not.  It  must  also  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  last  two  figures  given  are  based  on  the 
census  of  1910,  while  that  figure  showing  the  total 
immigrant  population  (16,615,121)  includes  the  es- 
timated increase  from  191  o  to  date, 

80 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

Thus  the  true  number  of  those  dependent  on  the 
foreign-language  press  and  the  total  number  of  illit- 
erates is  actually  considerably  in  advance  of  the  fig- 
ures given  above.  These  figures  are  inclusive;  that  is, 
they  cover  the  entire  press  of  the  thirty-five  different 
foreign-language  groups  that  go  to  make  up  America. 
Let  us  see  what  the  situation  is  with  the  press  of 
eighteen  of  these  groups.  In  this  we  can  advance 
from  the  general  to  the  particular. 

The  press  of  these  eighteen  groups  or  nationalities^ 
consists  of  795  foreign-language  papers.  In  period  of 
publication  these  papers  are  divided  as  follows:  Dailies, 
107;  tri-weeklies,  11;  bi-weeklies,  27;  weeklies,  511; 
tri-monthlies,  105;  quarterlies,  i.  In  class  of  publica- 
tion they  are  again  divided  as:  Newspapers,  547; 
fraternal  publications,  84;  religious  publications,  11; 
technical  and  trade  journals,  49;  and  general  maga- 
zines, 39.  This  shows  the  immensely  diverse  nature  of 
the  foreign-language  press,  the  preponderance  of 
weeklies,  and  the  small  proportion  of  daily  publica- 
tions. The  greater  portion  are,  according  to  this, 
weekly  newspapers.  So  much  for  what  we  may  call 
the  mechanical  status  of  this  press.  What  the  average 
person  is  most  interested  in,  however,  is  the  contents 
of  the  press  and  its  policies,  for  he  has  been  carefully 
tutored  during  the  last  two  years  in  the  belief  that  all 
foreign-language  publications  are  radical,  incendiary, 
and  dangerous.  It  will  not  be  difficult  to  show  that 
this  is  not  true. 


^  Czech,  Slovak,  Russian,  Italian,  German,  Polish,  Lithuanian, 
Ukrainian,  Danish,  Dutch,  Swedish,  Norwegian,  Finnish, 
Hungarian,  Jewish,  Serb,  Croat,  and  Slovene. 

6  81 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

During  the  War  the  Division  of  Work  with  the 
Foreign  Born  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information 
was  the  official  intermediary  between  our  Federal 
Government  and  our  foreign-language  press  and  pop- 
ulation. The  records  of  this  agency  testify  in  the  fullest 
degree  to  the  splendid  support  accorded  it  by  this 
press,  the  millions  of  words  printed  in  support  of  the 
various  Liberty  Loans  which  the  foreign  born  sub- 
scribed to  so  generously,  the  enormous  space  given  to 
all  governmental  information,  and  the  enthusiasm  with 
which  every  patriotic  effort  was  met.  The  native 
press  of  America  was  not  one  whit  ahead  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  during  the  War  in  its  support  of  all  war 
measures.  If  there  were  a  few,  a  very  few,  dissenting 
voices  in  the  foreign-language  press,  they  were  as 
nothing  compared  to  that  portion  of  the  native  Amer- 
ican press  which  was  frankly  seditious.  Facts  and 
figures  and  active  witnesses  almost  without  end  can 
be  called  upon  in  proof  of  this  assertion. 

After  the  War  was  over  the  foreign-language  press 
did  not  change;  its  loyalty  was  as  firm  and  as  fixed  as 
ever.  The  point  of  view  of  the  American  public  on 
this  press  did  change,  however.  The  public  had  been 
rendered  panicky  by  spy  scares;  it  was  ready  to  believe 
the  worst  of  anything  in  a  foreign  language.  Figures 
from  a  semi-governmental  agency,  which  still  releases 
governmental  material  to  about  800  foreign-language 
newspapers,  show  that  these  papers  have  actually 
printed  three-quarters  of  a  million  words  a  month^  of 

1  These  750,000  words  mean  about  750  newspaper  columns. 
It  may  illustrate  this  volume  of  material  better  when  I  say  that 
H.  G.  Wells's  "Outline  of  History,"  contains  about  500,000 
words,  or  250,000  words  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  prints  of  governmental  material  each  month. 

82 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

governmental  and  semi-governmental  material,  and 
that  this  average  is  still  being  kept  up  and  occasionally 
exceeded.  During  the  eight  months  from  February, 
1920,  to  October,  1920,  these  800  papers  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  printed  5,059,960  words  of  material  of 
the  type  outlined.  In  many  instances  these  papers 
have  given  their  whole  front  pages  to  government 
information.  In  many  instances  they  have  used  from 
twelve  to  twenty  government  releases  in  one  issue. 
Does  this  sound  like  a  seditious  press  ?  Can  it  be  said 
that  this  type  of  "copy"  is  too  radical? 

The  great  percentage  of  immigrants,  for  whom  it  is 
vitally  necessary  that  they  be  kept  in  touch  from  the 
very  outset  with  American  life,  official  and  general, 
would  be  rendered  entirely  helpless  by  restriction  to  the 
native  press  written  in  English.  It  is  true  enough  that 
the  immigrant  should  learn  English,  but  he  cannot  do 
so  in  a  week,  especially  under  the  unfavorable  social 
and  industrial  conditions  which  usually  mark  the  be- 
ginning of  his  career  in  this  country.  What  is  he  to 
rely  upon,  then,  while  he  is  being  educated?  His  own 
press,  to  be  sure;  there  is  nothing  else.  Even  if  this 
press  were  actually  dangerous  either  in  its  political, 
industrial,  or  social  advocacies,  or  even  if  it  tended  by 
its  very  being  to  foster  in  the  immigrant  a  desire  to 
stand  apart  from  American  life,  still  it  would  be  neces- 
sary none  the  less  for  the  foreign-speaking  peoples 
of  this  country  until  we  or  they  were  able  to  supply 
something  better.  In  reality,  however,  it  is  in  no  way 
undesirable.  It  is  in  very  large  part  possessed  of  a 
constructive  loyalty  that  is  of  immense  benefit  to  our 
immigrant  inhabitants  and,  through  them,  to  our 
country  itself.      In  those  black  periods  when  every 

83 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

hand  was  against  the  immigrant;  when  his  homes  were 
raided  in  a  vain  search  for  Reds;  when  his  community 
houses  were  broken  up;  and  when  he,  with  his  wife  and 
children,  or,  worse  still,  without  them,  was  deported 
on  the  very  flimsiest  of  pretexts,  the  foreign-language 
press  stood  firm  and  besought  its  readers  to  remember 
that  these  things  were  not  American;  that  the  public 
would  become  sane  again;  and  to  remember  that, 
above  all  else,  their  loyalty  to  this  country  must  re- 
main unshaken  lest  they  give  reason  to  the  mad  cry 
raised  against  them. 

During  the  War  a  federal  law,  the  Trading  with  the 
Enemy  Act,  was  enacted,  which  compelled  all  foreign- 
language  papers  either  to  have  a  permit  from  the 
Post  Office  Department  allowing  them  to  carry  on  as 
usual,  or,  in  lieu  of  this  permit,  to  file  a  copy  of  all 
matter  which  had  to  do  with  the  War,  with  the  govern- 
ment of  this  country,  or  of  any  country  involved  in 
the  War,  or  with  politics  in  general,  at  the  local  post 
office,  where  it  was  censored.  These  permits  were  care- 
fully doled  out  to  those  papers  the  administration  was 
perfectly  sure  of,  and  to  those  only.  Despite  the 
stringency  of  this  law,  however,  attempts  have  been 
made  to  pass  others  still  more  rigorous  and  debil- 
itating. 

It  is  strange  that  so  many  of  the  self-styled  "Amer- 
icanizers"  should  rail  at  the  foreign-language  press  on 
the  theory  that  it  helps  to  isolate  the  alien  and  pre- 
serve his  racial  interests  and  tendencies.  This  is  ac- 
tually far  from  being  the  truth.  The  foreign-language 
press  serves  more  than  one  purpose:  it  keeps  the  immi- 
grant of  the  first  generation  in  some  touch  with  his 
homeland,  with  its  politics,  its  general  interests,  and 

84 


THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS 

even,  in  some  instances,  with  the  gossip  of  his  own 
small  neighborhood.  The  desire  of  the  newly  arrived 
immigrant  for  this  type  of  information  is  not  only 
natural  but  even  praiseworthy.  He  who  shifts  from 
the  old  love  too  easily  will  certainly  be  fickle  in  his 
newer  affections.  In  the  next  generation  this  need 
has  passed  in  large  part,  and  in  the  third  generation  it 
exists  no  longer.  Three  generations  is  not  too  long 
in  which  to  make  an  American  citizen.  But  over  and 
above  this,  the  foreign-language  press  is  a  very  definite 
factor  in  assimilation.  It  is  not  only  the  most  valua- 
ble medium  of  interpretation  between  the  native  and 
the  foreign  born,  but  it  is  practically  the  only  medium. 
Without  it  the  immigrant  would  have  no  go-between  to 
bridge  the  gap  which  inevitably  separates  him  from  his 
native-born  neighbor  and  from  the  country  of  his  choice. 

During  the  War  the  situation  was  typical.  There 
was  no  way  in  which  the  Government  could  reach  the 
immigrant  population  effectively  except  through  the 
foreign-language  press.  The  causes,  the  aims,  the 
measures,  the  draft  laws,  the  Liberty  Loans,  and  all 
the  rest  of  it  had  to  be  made  to  permeate  thoroughly 
the  foreign-language  groups.  The  press  rose  to  the 
situation  practically  with  one  accord,  and  the  work 
was  done.  The  War  is  over,  but  the  need  for  inter- 
pretation is  not.  Not  a  day  passes  but  that  the  foreign- 
language  press  has  to  play  its  part  in  bringing  a  closer 
understanding  between  the  Government  and  the  immi- 
grant population,  between  the  native  and  the  foreign 
born,  and  there  is  not  a  day  when  this  press  does  not 
fulfill  its  mission. 

A  long  and  dramatic  story  could  be  told  of  the 
struggle  of  the  immigrant  with  the  complexities  of  the 

85         • 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

alien  income  tax  laws,  a  struggle  in  which  the  federal 
officers  almost  despaired  of  making  their  meaning  plain, 
until  at  last,  through  the  medium  of  the  foreign- 
language  press,  the  work  was  accomplished.  Every 
problem  that  is  national  in  scope  inevitably  affects 
the  immigrant,  and  the  solution  and  even  the  pre- 
sentation of  these  problems  would  be  next  to  impos- 
sible without  this  press  of  twelve  hundred  odd  papers, 
that  has  fought  for  life  through  misinterpretation,  mis- 
understanding, and  injustice. 

To  say  that  the  foreign-language  press  of  America 
is  disloyal  or  seditious  is  unqualifiedly  false.  In  fact, 
proportionately,  it  is  actually  more  loyal  than  the 
American  press.  The  mass  of  ultra-radical  and  treason- 
able literature  published  to-day  in  America  is  printed 
in  English,  and  for  the  most  part  by  native-born 
Americans.  These  are  general  statements,  but  they 
can  be  proved,  and  indeed  they  have  been  proved 
many  times  in  the  last  few  years. 

February,  1920. 


86 


IX 

WHY  THE  IMMIGRANT  LEAVES 

THERE  have  been  many  wild  stories  current  as 
to  the  number  of  immigrants  who  are  leaving 
America  for  their  home  countries,  and  also  as  to 
the  amount  of  money  they  are  taking  with  them. 
Not  one  story  in  ten  has  any  real  basis  in  fact,  but 
their  very  magnitude  gives  them  emphasis. 

That  there  is  a  certain  exodus  of  immigrants,  we 
cannot  question.  It  is  not  so  large  as  has  been  stated, 
however,  and  the  reasons  for  it  are  of  an  entirely  re- 
assuring nature.  It  may  be  more  clear  if  we  take  these 
peoples  by  groups  or  nationalities  and  try  to  show  their 
present  reactions  from  that  standpoint. 

The  Lithuanians  who  are  leaving  go  for  two  reasons: 
political  and  economic.  Many  of  them  were  forced 
from  their  country  because  of  political  persecution  by 
the  Russian  Government.  This  ban  has  now  been  re- 
moved and  they  naturally  wish  to  return.  Others  left 
because  of  unjust  distribution  of  land  and  economic 
pressure.  Now  that  the  status  has  been  changed,  they 
desire  to  take  proper  advantage  of  this  new  order. 
Others  have  not  heard  from  friends  and  relatives  in 
the  old  country  throughout  the  time  of  the  war.  Their 
desire  to  return  and  investigate  is  obvious.  The  greater 
proportion  of  those  leaving  fully  intend  to  come  back 
after  a  few  months. 

With  the  Ukrainians  the  situation  is  entirely  similar, 
except  that  in  this  group  we  find  more  who  are  actuated 

87 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

by  the  desire  to  go  back  and  help  in  the  further  libera- 
tion and  reconstruction  of  their  country.  In  both 
these  groups,  as  in  others,  there  is  a  class  which  came 
intending  to  stay  only  a  few  years,  but  which  was  de- 
tained by  the  War. 

Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  Swedes,  Norwegians, 
and  Danes  leaving  the  country  are  returning  to  their 
old  homes  merely  for  a  visit  after  the  War  or  to  settle 
some  business,  and  are  then  returning  to  America. 
Out  of  fifty-two  cases  investigated  only  five  did  not 
intend  to  return,  and  eight  were  a  little  doubtful,  but 
probably  would.    The  same  is  true  of  the  Finns. 

With  the  Czechoslovaks  it  is  estimated  that  90 
per  cent  are  returning  because  they  have  relatives  in 
distress  or  because  there  are  orphans  of  relatives  who 
must  look  to  them  for  support.  Of  the  remaining  10 
per  cent,  some  intend  to  look  after  property  interests, 
and  a  few  are  going  back  because  they  find  themselves 
unsuited  to  conditions  on  this  side.  This  proportion 
would  hold  true  in  any  event.  There  is  no  unusual 
wave  of  emigration  in  this  group. 

The  reasons  affecting  the  Czechoslovaks  are  much 
the  same  as  those  which  govern  the  Jugoslavs,  but 
with  the  latter  there  are  more  returning,  and  in  most 
cases  they  intend  to  stay  on  the  other  side.  They  have 
been  hard  hit  by  the  income  tax  here;  the  stopping  of 
the  War  has  thrown  many  of  them  out  of  work,  and 
they  believe  that  the  millennium  has  come  at  home. 
That  they  are  in  many  cases  forced  to  awake  from  this 
dream  is  evidenced  by  the  following  letter,  sent  to  a 
Jugoslav  paper  here: 

"I  beg  you  to  inform  me  how  could  I  come  back  to 
America.    I  was  in  America  for  several  years.    A  month 

88 


WHY  THE  IMMIGRANT  LEAVES 

ago  I  came  here  (Gorena),  but  I  don't  like  it.  If  I 
have  to  remain  here  I  don't  know  how  will  I  ever 
get  used  to  it.  If  I  don't  succeed  to  get  away,  I  don't 
know  how  it's  going  to  be.  I  don't  mind  how  much 
it  will  cost  for  a  steamship  ticket,  only  so  that  I  could 
get  back.  Please  send  me  the  address  of  a  steamship 
agent  in  Europe.  I  like  it  over  there  (America)  much 
better  than  here. 

"Anton  G." 

This  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  case  and,  quite 
apart  from  the  humor  of  the  letter,  albeit  quite  uncon- 
scious, there  is  a  lesson  to  be  learned  and  an  indica- 
tion to  be  noted. 

There  are  a  number  of  Italians  returning,  and  for 
various  reasons.  They  are  close-lipped  about  their 
personal  affairs,  and  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  know 
just  what  purpose  actuates  them.  However,  one  very 
strong  reason  is  the  exceptionally  favorable  condi- 
tions now  offered  by  Italian  exchange.  Not  long  ago 
$ioo  was  worth  975  lire.  The  Italians,  knowing  this, 
desire  to  return  to  Italy  with  increased  wealth  and  buy 
property,  but  they  forget  that  property  has  greatly 
increased  in  value  in  Italy.  More  lately,  reports  seem 
to  indicate  that  the  majority  of  the  Italians  returning 
intend  simply  to  settle  their  affairs  in  Italy  and  then 
come  back  to  America.  This  is,  of  course,  typical  of 
most  of  the  groups. 

Three  Italians  were  questioned  recently.  One  was 
returning  for  commercial  reasons,  one  to  regain  his 
health,  and  one  to  get  his  family.  The  last  two  in- 
tended to  return;  the  first  did  not,  but  just  the  same  he 
has  returned  already,  stating  that  he  was  used  to 
America  and  could  not  get  accustomed  to  the  old 
Italian  life. 

89 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

The  Italian  press  in  America  is  working  tirelessly 
and  successfully  to  dissuade  the  Italian  here  from  re- 
turning home.  It  is  probable  that  the  flood-tide  is 
past.  With  the  returning  Italians  there  has  been  a 
strong  feeling  of  resentment  because  of  the  unfairness 
of  the  application  of  the  income  tax  law  to  immi- 
grants. Many  of  these  people  were  overtaxed  on  their 
way  out  of  the  country.  This  is  primarily  the  fault  of 
the  law,  not  that  of  the  persons  administering  it  in 
most  cases. 

With  the  Hungarians  there  seems  to  be  no  especially 
racial  reason  for  leaving.  They  desire  to  look  up 
relatives  and  friends;  they  wish  to  take  advantage  of 
the  new  state  of  affairs  in  their  own  country,  of  which 
they  really  understand  all  too  little.  It  is  probable 
that  there  will  be  some  thousands  who  will  return  to 
Europe  with  the  purpose  of  reestablishing  themselves 
as  soon  as  shipping  conditions  permit.  Here,  too,  the 
income  tax  has  caused  much  bitterness  of  feeling. 
Also,  as  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  other  groups,  there 
are  relatives  to  be  searched  for  and  friends  to  be 
located.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  do  this  without  a 
personal  trip.  Just  how  many  of  those  Hungarians 
who  have  gone,  and  who  will  go  in  the  near  future, 
intend  to  return  it  is  impossible  to  estimate;  probably 
not  so  many  as  in  the  other  nationalities. 

There  are  a  number  of  reasons  affecting  the  desire 
of  Russians  to  return  home.  In  the  first  place,  they 
experience  great  difficulty  here  in  meeting  to  discuss 
their  problems.  We  are  at  present  acting  largely  on 
the  principle  that  all  Russians  are  Bolshevists  and 
that  they  must  not  be  allowed  to  hold  meetings  or  to 
congregate  for  discussion. 

go 


WHY  THE  IMMIGRANT  LEAVES 

Recently  at  one  of  the  big  mills  of  the  middle  west 
I  GO  Russians  met  for  the  sole  purpose  of  trying  to 
solve  the  mysteries  of  the  alien  income  tax.  As  a 
result  of  this  perfectly  innocent  meeting,  several  of 
these  men  were  sent  to  prison  and  others  were  dis- 
charged from  their  jobs.  Why?  As  a  matter  of  plain 
fact,  the  overwhelming  majority  of  Russians  here  are 
strongly  anti-Bolshevist,  or  were  so  until  recently,  and 
even  those  who  do  sympathize  with  the  Bolshevist 
propaganda  believe  in  it  only  for  their  own  country 
and  not  at  all  for  America.  There  is  no  danger,  but 
we  are  making  one. 

Then,  too,  large  numbers  have  been  thrown  out  of 
work  because  of  their  refusal  to  sign  Form  1078  of  the 
Revenue  Bureau,  which  is  a  declaration  of  resi- 
dence in  this  country.  They  desire  to  return  to  look 
for  the  lost  ones  of  their  households  and  to  retrieve 
what  may  be  left  of  the  little  property  they  may  have 
owned  in  Russia.  Thus  they  are  unwilling  to  pledge 
themselves  not  to  leave  America  for  any  length  of 
time.  Most  Russians  came  here  for  two  reasons: 
political  freedom  (I  do  not  at  all  mean  license),  and 
better  economic  conditions.  At  the  present  juncture 
it  looks  to  them  as  though  they  were  being  denied 
both.  Naturally,  they  wish  to  return  to  their  country, 
where,  they  have  heard,  the  iron  hand  has  been  lifted 
at  last.  It  is  for  us  to  decide  whether  they  go  or  stay, 
and  in  what  state  of  mind. 

The  primary  reason  for  the  general  exodus  is  the 
desire  to  resume  broken  relationships  due  to  the  War 
and  to  find  friends  and  relatives  who  have  not  been 
heard  from  for  years.  Next,  it  is  generally  understood 
by  the  immigrant  population  that  the  political  and 

91 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

economic  situation  in  the  home  countries  is  now  what 
the  peasant  waited  generations  for  and  what  he  came 
to  America  to  find.  This,  coupled  with  the  fact  that 
he  thinks  the  present  tendency  in  America  is  to  de- 
prive him  of  the  rights  for  which  he  originally  em- 
igrated. Then  there  are  minor  reasons:  Many  held 
here  by  the  war  who  would  have  returned  before;  some 
who  feel  the  call  of  patriotism,  and  a  few  returning  for 
reasons  of  health  and  other  less  significant  causes. 

If  the  way  is  left  open  for  them,  a  far  greater  number 
than  we  realize  will  return.^  If  we  can  only  bring  our- 
selves to  treat  those  immigrants  who  are  still  with  us 
with  understanding,  we  shall  cut  down  the  steamship 
lists  quite  50  per  cent.  But  if  we  do  not  do  this,  not 
only  shall  we  lose  the  immigrant,  but  we  shall  send 
him  home  with  a  rankling  bitterness  that  will  make  our 
name  a  byword  with  the  European  peasantry  for  many 
years  to  come,  a  condition  that  may  affect  international 
relations  and  domestic  economics  in  no  small  degree. 

November,  191 9. 


^  The  immigration  ruling  passed  in  May,  192 1,  (the  3%  re- 
striction act)  has  enormously  complicated  this  situation,  so  far 
as  the  return  of  the  alien  to  America  is  concerned.  See  Chapter 
XII  for  a  more  complete  statement  of  this. 


92 


I 


X 

PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 
I 

(  TT  IS  my  purpose  here  to  endeavor  to  indicate  a 
trend,  to  suggest  a  point  of  view,  which  has  suc- 
cessfully coupled  Americanization  with  the  indus- 
trial war.  It  may  be  that  in  some  instances  we  shall 
find  that  Americanization  is  merely  a  cloak,  a  camou- 
flage, which  serves  to  hide  another  and  a  far  less  dis- 
interested motive.  It  may  be  also  that  we  shall  find 
some  agencies  or  organizations,  excellent  in  them- 
selves, that  are  being  used,  through  this  medium,  to 
pull  someone  else's  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire.  But 
before  coming  to  the  condition  as  it  exists  to-day,  we 
shall  have  to  outline  very  roughly  and  briefly  condi- 
tions as  they  existed  before,  during,  and  immediately 
following  the  war,  for  only  in  this  way  shall  we  avoid 
the  error  of  presenting  the  climax  of  the  story  before 
any  of  the  events  leading  up  to  it. 

It  was  about  1907,  when  the  last  great  flood  of  im- 
migration came  into  the  country,  that  Americaniza- 
tion began  to  make  itself  evident.  There  were  three 
elements  other  than  the  immigrants  themselves  that 
were  more  or  less  concerned  with  the  problem,  as  in- 
deed they  are  to-day,  namely,  the  employers,  labor, 
and  outside  agencies. 

The  employers  were  roughly  divided  into  three 
classes :  Those  who  had  no  concern  whatever  with  the 
immigrant;   those   who   were   sincerely    interested   in 

93 


/(^ 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

^     bettering  his  condition  through  general  education  and 
normal  assimilation;  and  those  who  desired  to  keep 

^     the  immigrant  isolated,   ignorant,  and  comparatively 

^  helpless,  so  that  he  would  be  unable  to  interest  him- 
self to  any  considerable  extent  in  the  industrial  con- 
flict. Unfortunately,  this  last  class  appears  to  have 
composed  the  majority,  and  even  in  the  case  of  the 
second  class  one  cannot  but  observe  that  in  all  prob- 
ability the  instruction  the  immigrant  got  was  not 
ordinarily  uncolored  by  prejudice, 
f  Labor  was  not  particularly  interested  in  any  sort 
of  Americanization.  In  the  first  place,  it  did  not  want 
immigration  at  all,  and  in  the  second  it  adopted,  on 
the  whole,  a  foolish  and  short-sighted  policy,  making 
it  difficult  for  the  immigrant  either  to  join  the  already 
existing  unions  or  to  unionize  himself.  In  this  way  the 
union  played  straight  into  the  employers'  hands.  In 
some  unions  the  immigrant  was  admitted  readily 
enough,  but  in  many  others  he  was  kept  out  so  far  as 
it  was  possible.  Thus,  Steel  refused  for  years  to  admit 
the  masses  of  foreign-born  unskilled  workers. 

Pf     \  So  far  as  outside  organizations  were  concerned,  the 

problem  was  even  less  well  defined.    Some,  such  as  the 

settlements,  had  been  doing  Americanization  work  long 

*  before  the  term  itself  came  into  being.    Others,  how- 

*^  ever,  sprang  into  existence  as  a  direct  result  of  what 

had  come  to  be  known  as  the  "immigrant  problem." 

These  last,   speaking  generally,   were  of  two  types: 

One   was    entirely   non-partisan,   and    endeavored  to 

meet  the  immigrant  on  his  own  ground,  supplying  the 

particular  educational  needs  which  his  peculiar  status 

:     in  this  country  had  developed.    The  other  was  osten- 

^     sibly  like  in  purpose,  but  its  method  of  approach  was 

94 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

different.  It  tried  to  reach  the  immigrant  through  his 
employer.  It  endeavored  to  enlist  the  services  of  the 
chambers  of  commerce  in  its  Americanizing  campaign; 
it  placed  its  circulars  in  the  pay  envelopes  of  employees ; 
and  especially,  in  times  of  strikes,  it  sent  out  speakers 
to  spread  the  gospel  of  truth  and  light  among  the 
workers.  I  do  not  say  that  there  was  actually  an 
ulterior  motive  in  all  this;  doubtless  it  was  only  ignor- 
ance and  natural  bias,  but  it  was  dangerous  and  it  was 
to  grow. 

The  public  at  this  time  was  unawakened  and  un- 
realizing.  When  it  thought  of  the  immigrant  at  all, 
it  thought  of  him  as  an  isolated  individual  and  not  in 
his  relationship  to  the  national  entity.  He  was  a 
**Wop,''  a  "Hunkie,"  a  "Polak,"  but  never  a  potential 
citizen  and,  as  yet,  not  even  a  menace.  Really,  the 
point  of  view  the  public  took  of  him  was  not  unlike 
the  point  of  view  of  the  slaveholder  toward  the  slave, 
albeit  it  was  quite  unconscious.  He  was  there  to  do 
the  dirty  work;  that  was  all. 

During  the  War  all  this  underwent  an  emphatic 
change.  The  mind  of  the  nation  was  focused  at  one 
point,  and  through  the  intervention  of  the  Federal 
Government  the  bars  were  let  down  and  the  immi- 
grant was  admitted  to  the  fold.  He  was  needed  for 
our  army  and  for  munitions  work;  his  money  was 
necessary  for  Liberty  Loans,  Red  Cross  drives,  and 
for  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  He  must 
no  longer  be  considered  an  outsider  or  be  permitted  to 
consider  himself  one.  Instant  unification  was  de- 
manded, and  for  the  most  part  was  achieved.  Em- 
ployers, Labor,  agencies,  and  the  public  were  concen- 
trated on  one  task,  and  the  immigrant  instead  of  being 

95 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

a  fifth  element  as  before  became  simply  a  normal 
part  of  the  other  four.  The  Government  went  out  and 
reached  him  effectively  through  the  papers  of  the  for- 
eign-language press,  about  1,200  in  number;  through 
the  foreign-language  societies,  which,  including  their 
locals,  ran  up  to  67,000,  and  through  the  leaders  of 
the  foreign-language  groups.  In  all  this  employers 
played  their  part,  sometimes  foolishly,  as  when  their 
Americanization  merely  consisted  of  patriotic  airs 
played  in  the  noon  hour,  but  usually  sincerely.  And 
the  immigrant  did  not  have  to  be  forced.  His  oppor- 
tunity to  show  himself  as  an  inherent  and  integral 
part  of  the  nation  had  come,  and  he  took  advantage 
of  it  promptly. \ 

The  Czechoslovak  group,  for  instance,  contributed 
about  125,000  men  to  our  armed  forces;  the  Hun- 
garians, about  7,000;  the  Italians,  nearly  300,000;  the 
Jews,  about  225,000;  the  Jugoslavs,  about  20,000;  the 
Lithuanians,  35,000;  the  Poles,  107,000;  the  Russians, 
20,000,  and  the  Ukrainians,  8,000  more.  Nor  were 
they  less  generous  in  their  financial  contributions;  for, 
if  we  cite  figures  of  the  Fourth  Liberty  Loan  only,  for  a 
few  of  the  groups  already  mentioned,  we  find  that  the 
Czechoslovaks  contributed  from  70  per  cent  of  their 
total  population;  the  Hungarians  gave  $2,500,000;  the 
Italians,  $150,000,000;  the  Jugoslavs,  $3,000,000;  the 
Lithuanians,  about  $12,000,000;  the  Russians,  $40,- 
000,000,  and  the  Ukrainians,  $1,000,000.  As  a  result 
of  this  loyal  and  concentrated  effort,  of  which  the 
figures  I  have  quoted  give  the  barest  idea,  the  immi- 
grant was  warmly  applauded  both  by  the  Government, 
by  his  employers,  and  his  compatriots.  He  was  made 
to  feel  that  he  had  proved  himself  at  a  time  of  national 

96 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

crises,  and  that  consequently  he  belonged  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  word  to  the  nation  with  all  its  traditions 
and  benefits,  as  was  surely  only  fair,  considering  that 
he  had  fulfilled  its  most  stringent  obligations.  The 
immigrant  had  been  tried  and  had  not  been  found 
wanting,  in  spite  of  spy  scares  and  alien  propaganda 
hysteria. 

It  was  during  this  period,  however,  that  the  general  i 
public  suddenly  discovered  that  there  was  such  a 
thing  as  Americanization,  and  because  their  enlighten- 
ment came  at  this  particular  time  they  regarded  the 
reclaiming  of  the  immigrant  group  as  a  certain  by- 
product of  the  War.  They  seemed  to  feel  that  Ameri- 
canization was  something  that  had  been  born  of  the 
war  peril  instead  of  realizing  that  as  a  matter  of  fact 
the  war  had  simply  awakened  them  to  a  duty  which 
had  lain  neglected  for  many  years.\  As  the  result  of 
this  we  had  incidents  such  as  the  stoning  by  the  local 
Loyalty  Legion  of  a  little  colony  of  Czechs  who  were 
celebrating  the  departure  of  their  sons,  brothers,  and 
husbands  to  the  war  by  wearing  their  national  cos- 
tumes and  singing  their  old  folk  songs.  In  another 
instance  an  ardent  party  of  Americanizers  was  much 
put  out  because  a  foreign-born  woman  whom  they 
approached  told  them  that  she  simply  did  not  have 
the  time  to  be  Americanized,  because  her  sons  were  all 
at  the  front,  her  husband  was  in  the  munitions  works, 
and  her  daughters  were  out  selling  Liberty  Bonds, 
leaving  her  to  do  the  housework.  These  are  not  iso- 
lated examples ;  they  are,  unfortunately,  all  too  typical. 
The  average  citizen  had  found  something  he  could  do  \  V 
at  home.  If  he  could  not  fight  the  Germans  abroad, 
he  could  at  least  Americanize  the  immigrants  in  the 

7  97 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

United  States,  and  he  went  at  the  last  task  in  much 
the  same  spirit  he  would  have  applied  to  the  first,  had 
he  been  given  the  opportunity.  Hence  the  psychology 
of  Americanization  began  to  solidify,  to  be  fixed.  It 
was  something  to  be  done  to  somebody  by  someone 
else,  and  done  hard.     And  then  came  the  armistice. 

Naturally  enough  during  the  War  the  Americaniza- 
tion work  in  industry  had  received  a  tremendous  im- 
petus, just  as  it  had  everywhere  else.  Probably  98 
per  cent  of  the  employers  of  foreign  labor  were  doing 
Americanization  work  of  one  kind  or  another  by  the 
fall  of  191 8.  The  number  of  outside  organizations  en- 
gaged in  forcing  assimilation  of  some  sort  had  likewise 
increased  enormously,  and  it  must  be  carefully  noted 
that  those  agencies  that  sprang  up  as  a  result  of  the 
War  took  their  tone  from  the  war  idea.  They  were  less 
service  organizations  than  self-constituted  channels 
through  which  patriotism  of  their  own  special  brand 
was  to  be  poured  like  sacred  oil  upon  the  foreign-born. 
Here  then  was  a  highly  fertile  and  cultivated  field  for 
any  able  sower  who  might  take  advantage  of  the  op- 
portunity. It  was  Mr.  A.  Mitchell  Palmer  who  came, 
and  who  administered  the  coup  de  grace  to  the  situation. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  selfish,  near-sighted,  frightened,  and 
misled.  He  evidently  thought  that  if  he  could  throw 
the  nation  into  a  panic,  making  it  believe  that  every 
immigrant  was  a  potential  Bolshevist  and  bomb- 
thrower,  he  could  institute  a  program  of  anti-radical 
propaganda  which  would  finally  permit  him  to  pose 
as  the  saviour  of  a  free  people,  for  which  feat  he  would 
be  awarded  the  Presidential  nomination.  It  was  so 
clever  that  it  almost  worked.  In  fact,  though  Mr. 
Palmer  himself  was  wholly  discredited,  the  effect  his 

98 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

pernicious  activities  had  on  the  country  has  by  no 
means  worn  away.  At  any  rate,  he  went  at  his  task 
busily.  He  suppressed  a  number  of  foriegn-language 
publications  and  harassed  those  he  could  not  suppress; 
he  raided  foreign-language  societies  wholesale,  and 
after  he  had  raided,  deported  what  was  left.  It  was  an 
intensive  campaign,  carried  on  without  mercy  or 
justice,  as  it  was  instituted  without  reason.  The  effect 
both  on  the  native  and  on  the  foreign  born  was  pro- 
digious. 

The  immigrant  groups  were  panic-stricken.  Only  a 
few  months  before  they  had  been  made  to  feel  the 
warmth  of  gratitude  with  which  the  Republic  greeted 
them  during  the  War,  and  now,  almost  over  night,  the 
hand  of  fellowship  had  changed  to  the  mailed  fist  of  a 
despotism  so  like  the  one  they  had  fought  against  in 
Europe  that  they  longed  to  be  back  there  again,  now 
that  the  older  tyranny  had  fallen.  Their  press  was  in 
peril;  their  educational  organizations  were  broken  up, 
and  they  were  forced  to  seek  refuge  in  whatever  hiding 
places  presented  themselves;  for  if  they  congregated 
in  public  for  no  matter  what  purpose,  they  were  ar- 
rested and  hailed  away  to  jail  as  dangerous  radicals 
and  incendiaries. 

I  The  native-born  public,  whose  attention  had  been 
focused  on  Americanization  during  the  War,  now  that 
the  War  was  over,  concentrated  on  the  anti-radical 
campaign,  and  Americanization  soon  came  to  be  a 
synonym  for  suppression.  All  European  traits  and 
attributes  were  to  be  wiped  out,  and  it  was  equally 
dangerous  to  wear  a  red  necktie  or  to  speak  with  a 
foreign  accent.  The  events,  of  1919  and  1920  are  so 
recent  that  there  is  no  need  to  tell  them  over  again 

99 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

here.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  Americanization  and 
anti-radicalism  became  interchangeable  terms,  and  to 
remind  the  reader  that  radicalism  in  the  public  mind 
covered  not  only  many  sins,  but  an  almost  equal 
number  of  virtues. 

Many  employers  and  chambers  of  commerce  were 
quick  to  see  the  opportunity  chance,  war,  and  Palmer 
had  given  them  and  to  turn  it  to  their  own  account. 
In  some  instances  resolutions  were  passed  which  re- 
quired that  members  of  certain  foreign-born  groups 
must  declare  their  instant  intention  of  becoming  cit- 
izens or  suffer  the  results  of  unemployment.  Em- 
ployers pointed  out  that  our  industries  were  in  danger 
of  becoming  Bolshevized,  and  that  our  only  safety  lay 
in  an  immediate  return  to  the  industrial  conditions  of 
before  the  War.  Nor  was  Labor  particularly  helpful  in 
this  emergency,  for  it  desired  to  stop  immigration  at 
any  cost,  and  was  not  particularly  careful  about  the 
reasons  it  gave  for  the  step. 

It  was  inevitable  that  this  crisis  should  influence  the 
many  outside  organizations  and  agencies  which  had 
adopted  Americanization  programs,  and  which  de- 
pended largely  on  wealthy  people  for  support.  Some 
of  them  were  open  about  the  fact  that  they  were 
working  with  the  employers,  while  others  endeavored 
to  mask  their  real  purpose.  Still  more  were  simply 
fooled,  and  were,  and  are,  being  used  as  cat's-paws  in 
the  industrial  war. 

We  know  pretty  well  what  we  may  expect  in  the 
way  of  Americanization  from  the  big  employer.  If 
he  is  engaged  in  Americanization,  as  he  is,  we  may 
take  it  for  granted  that  he  expects  to  get  something 
out  of  it  himself.    The  spring  is  so  obviously  poisonous 

lOO 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZAtlbTsi  ^ 

that  we  do  not  need  even  to  consider  the  possibility 
of  the  well's  being  pure.  It  is  not  far  otherwise  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  In  their  dealings 
with  the  immigrants  they  have  always  been  biased, 
and  have  always  considered  their  own  welfare  at  the 
expense  of  whatever  and  whoever  they  imagined  stood 
in  its  way.  This  is  not  the  place  we  are  likely  to  look 
for  an  unprejudiced  point  of  view,  even  though  we 
may  prefer  one  brand  of  bias  to  the  other.  But  with 
outside  agencies  and  organizations  such  as  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  the  American  Legion, 
the  National  Security  League,  the  North  American 
Civic  League  for  Immigrants,  the  Inter-Racial  Council, 
and  others — how  is  it  with  them?  Are  they  taking 
sides,  and  if  so,  what  sides  are  they  taking?  An  ex- 
amination of  some  of  the  more  readily  accessible  data 
ought  at  least  to  give  us  an  indication  of  the  truth, 
even  if  it  does  not  serve  wholly  either  to  convict  or  to 
exculpate. 

It  must  be  borne  clearly  in  mind  that  the  following 
statements  are  by  no  means  intended  to  constitute  an 
attack  on  the  organizations  with  which  they  deal. 
The  facts  will  speak  for  themselves.  And  so,  "with 
charity  for  all,  and  malice  toward  none,"  let  us  begin 
with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

May,  1 92 1. 


lOI 


XI 

PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

II 

THE  national  policy  and  program  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  on  Americanization 
is  set  forth  in  a  book  entitled  "The  Problem  of 
Americanization,"  by  Dr.  Peter  Roberts,  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Industrial  Department  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  under  which  the  Ameri- 
canization work  of  that  organization  is  instituted. 
In  his  introduction  to  this  book  Dr.  Roberts  states: 

"The  radicals  have  a  well-organized  speakers'  bu- 
reau, a  many-tongued  press,  and  a  fervency  in  attack 
which  cannot  be  paralleled  by  any  constructive  and 
conserving  agency  interested  in  aliens.  If  Bolshevism 
and  I.  W.  W.-ism  are  to  be  successfully  combated, 
America  needs  a  program  of  enlightenment,  an  army 
of  volunteer  workers,  a  wide-awake  press,  and  a  zeal 
for  American  democracy  akin  to  apostolic  fervor.  The 
radicals  have  long  had  the  right  of  way  in  communities 
made  of  foreign-speaking  peoples.  We  should  match 
this  with  a  propaganda  of  enlightenment.    .    .    ." 

And  now,  through  a  very  few  samples,  let  us  see  of 
what  this  propaganda  of  enlightenment,  which  comes 
under  the  head  of  Americanization,  consists: 

"Their  lives  are  spent  in  penury  and  stupidity." 

This  of  the  immigration  from  Southeastern  Europe. 

"When  we  consider,  however,  the  character  of  the 
home  and  its  furnishings,  the  care  of  the  children,  the 

I02 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

sleeping  quarters,  the  comforts  and  conveniences  the 
family  ought  to  enjoy, — the  foreign  born  are  far  re- 
moved from  American  standards.  The  chief  hindrance 
to  better  things  is  the  penury  of  the  foreigner." 

*The  Americanization  worker  .  .  .  will  meet  men 
who  either  do  not  know  or  do  not  care  to  observe 
sanitary  rules  in  eating,  and  some  who  take  pride  in 
dirt  and  coarseness  rather  than  in  cleanliness  and  re- 
finement. The  earnest  worker  cannot  afford  to  be 
fastidious;  he  must  be  inured  to  the  objectionable  en- 
vironment or  the  distasteful  habits  for  the  sake  of  the 
man  whom  he  serves.  A  passion  for  humanity  dom- 
inates his  life,  and  he  is  willing  to  endure  all  things  if 
only  he  may  bring  men  and  women  to  American 
standards." 

"It  is  not  unusual  to  find  many  families  of  immi- 
grants living  in  a  house  built  for  one  family,  .  .  . 
and  a  lecture  given  to  the  foreign  group  upon  the 
danger  of  congestion  in  tenement  houses  will  help 
them." 

"Within  recent  years  many  foreign-born  men  have 
organized  clubs.  ...  If  the  free  atmosphere  of 
Americanism  penetrates  these  clubs,  largely  made  up 
of  radicals,  the  dangerous  forms  of  radicalism  will 
disappear." 

"How  many  of  the  rank  and  file  of  industrial  workers 
of  native-born  parents  in  America  are  qualified  to 
exercise  intelligently  the  rights  of  citizenship?  .  .  . 
They  go  to  the  polls  because  the  men  interested  in 
getting  out  the  vote  call  on  them,  and  it  is  respectable 
to  vote  a  certain  way." 

"They  (i.  e.,  the  immigrants)  break  down,  and  will 
continue  to  break  down  unless  they  eat  more,  wash 
oftener,  dissipate  less,  and  sleep  in  more  sanitary 
quarters." 

"Men  are  hankering  for,  and  will  find,  a  way  of  life 
that  strikes  a  via  media  between  the  cold,  stern  mor- 

103 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

ality  of  Puritanism  and  the  red  and  spicy  laxity  of 
Bolshevism." 

"Many  foreigners  come  to  school  in  unique  gar- 
ments: women  come  with  shawls  or  kerchiefs  over 
their  heads,  and  their  garments  are  not  of  American 
make;  men  come  in  sheepskin  coats,  flannel  shirts, 
boots,  and  caps ;  some  come  with  hair  disheveled,  dirty 
linen,  faces  and  hands  unwashed.  These  are  unpleasant 
things,  and  yet,  for  the  great  work  of  Americanization, 
the  teacher  will  not  be  prejudiced  against  his  pupils." 

'The  art  of  correct  spelling  in  English  is  most  diffi- 
cult to  the  foreign  born.  This  is  due  largely  to  the 
fact  that  they  nearly  all  spell  phonetically  in  their 
own  tongue." 

"The  gulf  separating  a  refined,  cultured,  and  sensi- 
tive teacher  from  some  of  the  most  ignorant,  illiterate, 
and  unpolished  immigrants  is  often  believed  to  be 
impassible." 

"Another  erroneous  idea  is  that  the  moneyed  men 
in  America  are  untrustworthy,  and  that  the  financial 
institutions  of  this  country  are  not  as  sound  as  those 
in  the  homeland.  Many  immigrants  believe  that  there 
are  more  money  sharks  to  the  square  foot  in  America 
than  to  the  square  mile  in  Europe.  .  .  .  This  sus- 
picion should  be  attacked  by  the  presentation  of  facts 
which  immigrants  cannot  learn  by  themselves." 

In  speaking  of  the  sons  of  immigrants : 

"His  home  is  cramped,  his  clothing  scant,  and  the 
standard  by  which  the  parents  were  raised  in  the 
poverty  and  penury  of  the  old  world  is  the  one  by 
which  they  raise  their  children  in  the  new." 

"To  keep  the  overgrown  son  of  the  stolid  Slav  in 
school  till  he  is  sixteen  or  seventeen  is  not  good  for 
the  boy  or  the  parents." 

"If  the  men  work  ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day  they 
must  meet  for  instruction  in  the  evening." 

104 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

"There  is  no  more  dangerous  fallacy  brought  by 
immigrants  to  America  than  the  expectation  of  mak- 
ing high  wages  without  sacrifice,  hard  toil,  and  per- 
sistent effort.  When  they  in  time  find  out  their  error 
they  are  disappointed,  disgruntled,  and  rebellious. 
They  become  fertile  soil  for  socialistic  and  anarchistic 
propaganda,  and  it  is  the  road  along  which  radicals 
of  the  reddest  type  come  into  America/' 

Now,  all  of  these  statements  are  very  silly,  and  most 
of  them  are  entirely  false.  This  is  the  sort  of  Ameri- 
canization that  is  being  read  by  hundreds  of  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  secretaries  spread  broad- 
cast over  the  country.  This  is  the  program  which  has 
the  endorsement  of  the  American  Legion  and  the 
sympathy  of  the  National  Security  League.  It  is 
evident  that  the  reader  who  takes  his  information 
from  this  source  will  react  against  the  immigrant, 
against  the  worker,  and  in  favor  of  the  employer.  The 
whole  onus  is  placed  upon  the  victim  rather  than  on 
the  victimizer.  This  book  of  Dr.  Roberts  contains 
what  is  probably  the  most  powerful  Americanization 
program  in  the  country,  and  it  contains  at  the  same 
time  more  inaccuracies  to  the  square  page  than  one 
would  believe  possible.  Its  author  either  is  utterly 
ignorant  of  his  subject  or  he  is  speaking  advisedly. 
He  is  either  stupid  or  malicious. 

An  organization  that  had  a  well-developed  Ameri- 
canization program  even  before  the  War  is  the  North 
American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants.  The  ex- 
pressed purpose  of  this  agency  is  "to  protect  immi- 
grant and  resident  aliens  and  to  interest  and  instruct 
them  in  American  ideals  and  the  requirements  of 
American  citizenship."  Excellent  enough.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  League  keeps  a  mobile  staff  of 

105 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

workers  on  hand  which  will  be  sent  to  any  industrial 
center  during  an  emergency  providing  their  expenses 
are  paid.  By  whom  ?  Not  by  the  strikers,  we  may  be 
sure.  In  fact,  one  of  the  agents  of  the  League,  when 
asked  what  good  purpose  the  work  of  the  League  served 
in  an  industrial  center  during  a  crisis,  replied  that  they 
were  quite  non-partisan,  and  that  their  efforts  simply 
"took  the  workers'  minds  off  the  strike."  It  is  an  in- 
teresting point  of  view.  This  comes  under  the  Indus- 
trial Committee  of  the  League.  Mr.  Chauncey  Brewer, 
in  speaking  for  the  North  American  Civic  League  for 
Immigrants,  remarked  that  he  believed  in 

**the  complete  regulation  of  the  foreign  population. 
This  will  provide  supervision  of  the  laborer  who  is  in 
this  country  to  seek  employment,  with  no  expectation 
of  naturalizing  himself.     .     .     ." 

Now  this  sort  of  thing  gives  one  to  think.  A  sub- 
sidiary of  the  League  is  the  Order  and  Liberty  Al- 
liance.^ 

The  Inter-Racial  Council,  under  General  Coleman 
DupxDnt  and  the  more  active  leadership  of  Miss  Francis 
Kellor,  is  less  well  masked.  Here  are  a  few  items  from 
its  own  statements: 

"That  this  association  in  the  procuring  and  placing 
of  advertising  will  be  a  connecting  link  between  the 
advertiser,  the  advertising  agency,  and  the  foreign- 
language  press,  acting  as  an  advisor  in  the  foreign- 
language  newspaper  field,  and  guaranteeing  certain 
standards  in  the  editorial,  news,  and  advertising 
columns.     .     .     ." 


^  I  append  a  letter  received  by  me  shortly  after  the  serial 
publication  of  this  chapter.     Appendix  C. 

io6 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

"It  will  undertake  to  sell  Americanism  to  the  foreign- 
language  press  by  giving  it  American  advertis- 
ing.    .     .     ." 

Both  of  these  statements  are  made  in  connection 
with  the  American  Association  of  Foreign  Language 
Newspapers,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Inter-Racial  Council. 
Mr.  William  H.  Barr,  the  recent  president  of  the 
Council,  contributes  the  following: 

''We  must  show  him  (i.  e.,  the  immigrant)  where 
safety  and  profit  exist  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the 
other,  where  danger  lurks  in  the  form  of  ultra-radi- 
calism, violence,  and  disorder." 

*'We  have  seen  the  ultra-radicals  spreading  their 
doctrines  of  violence  and  revolution,  while  American 
business  men  have  been  going  placidly  about  their 
business,  not  realizing  that  they  were  sitting  on  the 
top  of  a  volcano.  Revolutionary  agitators  have  been 
boring  from  within  the  labor  organizations;  they  have 
been  running  magazines  and  papers  in  English  and  in 
foreign  languages.  It  is  conservatively  estimated  that 
the  I.  W.  W.  sells  $300,000  worth  of  literature  a  year. 
What  has  the  American  business  man  been  doing 
besides  giving  inspirational  addresses  and  besides  play- 
ing with  amateurish  experiments  in  Americanization? 
The  foreign  born  can  be  reached  effectively  in  several 
ways — through  their  organizations,  through  the  press, 
and  through  individual  plants.  Recognizing  that  fact, 
a  number  of  business  men  formed  the  Inter-Racial 
Council  a  little  over  a  year  ago.  The  council  to-day 
is  composed  of  more  than  1,100  of  the  leading  indus- 
trial establishments  in  the  country  and  conference 
groups  from  among  thirty-two  of  the  races  in  the 
United  States.  These  two  elements  in  the  Council 
have  been  working  together  in  the  interests  of  good, 
wholesome  Americanism,  and  they  have  been  directing 
their  efforts  through  these  channels: 

107 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

*' First:  Through  the  foreign-language  press,  with 
news  and  advertisements  relating  the  impracticability 
of  Bolshevist  theories,  and  the  real  meaning  of  Ameri- 
can democracy. 

** Second:  Through  the  English-language  press,  for 
the  purpose  of  eliminating  racial  antagonisms  which 
are  fertile  soil  for  the  seed  of  Bolshevism." 

In  a  pamphlet  issued  by  the  Inter-Racial  Council, 
under  the  heading  of  "Aims  and  Purposes,"  we  find: 

"To  stabilize  industrial  conditions. 

"To  apply  American  business  methods  to  the  for- 
eign-language press  by  building  an  American  adver- 
tising base  under  it.     .     .     ." 

Further,  there  are  specified  types  of  service  to  be 
rendered  members  under  these  heads:  Industrial  Mem- 
bers, Mercantile  Members,  Banking  Corporations, 
American  Institutions,  and  Racial  Members.  Truly 
Americanization  makes  strange  bedfellows !  The  results 
to  be  achieved  by  all  this  are  thus  outlined: 

''Reduction  in  unrest  and  disorder,  as  a  result  of 
plant  analyses,  which  point  out  conditions  that  create 
industrial   unrest.  Decrease   of   radicalism 

through  information  and  counter  education  in  the 
foreign-language  press  dealing  with  attacks  upon 
American  institutions,  law  and  order,  and  industry." 

Without  going  into  the  matter  any  further,  though 
there  is  plenty  of  material,  we  are  compelled  to  doubt 
the  authenticity  of  that  Americanization  which  pro- 
ceeds from  an  organization  largely  made  up  of  em- 
ployers of  foreign  labor,  the  expressed  purpose  of  which 
is  to  "stabilize  industrial  conditions"  and  to  influence 
the  foreign-language  press  through  its  advertising. 

io8 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

The  National  Security  League,  now  engaged  in  sup- 
pressing Socialism  in  our  colleges,  does  not  attempt  to 

hide  its  light  under  a  bushel.  Beside  its  sympathy 
in  the  point  of  view  exposed  in  the  program  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  joining  with 
the  American  Legion  in  calling  the  National  American 
Council,  of  which  more  later,  the  Security  League  has 
a  few  opinions  of  its  own  on  the  foreign  born.  As, 
for  instance: 

*The  great  majority  of  these  foreigners  see  nothing 
in  the  United  States  except  a  national  boarding  place, 
where  they  shall  give  as  little  as  possible  and  take  all 
they  can.  We  Americans  have  blindly  neglected  to 
make  it  a  home  for  them,  and  have  blindly  permitted 
them  to  develop  influence  and  power.  There  is  in- 
deed no  place  like  home.'  " 

In  a  further  statement  of  purpose  the  League  says: 

"We  are  sending  volunteer  speakers  daily  to  fight 
Bolshevism  and  preach  Americanism  before  all  sorts 
of  audiences. 

"Fighting  radical  tendencies  among  college  under- 
graduates. Actively  cooperating  with  Government 
agencies  in  the  anti-Bolshevist  fight." 

Doubtless  it  was  this  last  statement  that  inspired 
late  Attorney  General  Palmer  to  say,  "I  am  in  entire 
accord  with  the  purpose  of  the  National  Security 
League,    .    .    ."  and  to  pay  $25  for  a  life  membership. 

Just  what  kind  of  Americanization  are  we  to  expect 
from  this?  It  was  the  National  Security  League, 
along  with  the  American  Legion,  the  endorser  of  the 
program  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
that  called  a  meeting  of  some  sixty-seven  organiza- 
tions  interested   in  Americanization  work  in  Wash- 

109 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

ington  during  the  past  winter.  The  object  was  to 
bring  these  organizations  together  under  the  name  of 
the  National  American  Council,  which  council  would 
coordinate  the  work  of  Americanization  throughout 
the  country.  This  object  has  not  yet  been  attained, 
nor  has  it  yet  been  entirely  frustrated.  If  it  is 
eventually  accomplished  under  the  tender  guidance  of 
the  National  Security  League,  which  originally  in- 
stituted the  movement,  it  is  rather  clear  that  the  im- 
migrant groups  can  hope  for  nothing  better  than  a 
continuation  of  the  Palmer  campaign.  Later  the 
National  American  Council  again  met  and  organized 
on  the  following  basis:  President,  David  Jayne  Hill; 
Vice-Presidents,  Charles  D.  Orth,  of  the  National 
Security  League,  Frederick  W.  Galbraith,  of  the  Amer- 
ican Legion,  Albert  E.  Shiels,  of  the  Inter-Racial 
Council;  Honorary  President,  Warren  G.  Harding; 
Honorary  Vice-Presidents,  Calvin  Coolidge  and  Mrs. 
Finley  J.  Sheppard.  This  list  is  not  only  indicative. 
It  is  simply  priceless. 

Among  the  organizations  included  in  the  member- 
ship of  the  Council  are:  The  Constitutional  League  of 
America,  the  Inter-Racial  Council,  the  American  Legion, 
the  Veterans  of  Foreign  Wars,  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, the  Daughters  of  1812,  the  American  Defense 
Society,  the  Constitutional  Defense  League,  the  Na- 
tional Security  League,  and  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  the  United  States. 

The  Loyal  American  League,  which  is  an  outgrowth 
of  the  American  Protective  League,  is  not  backward, 
either,  in  showing  its  hand.    It  remarks: 

no 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

"What  is  Capital?  It  is  plainly  evident  that  an 
attempt  is  being  made  by  certain  groups  to  destroy 
the  industries  of  America.  They  use  as  one  of  their 
means  a  false  picture  of  ^Capital.'  They  constantly 
cry  'Down  with  Capital  and  Capitalism!'  until  the 
unthinking  laboring  man  is  likely  to  get  the  idea  that 
'Capital'  is  a  bad  thing.  Nothing  could  be  more  un- 
true, as  Capital  is  the  most  necessary  thing  in  the 
world  for  the  success  of  Labor.    .    .    ." 

'Therefore  do  not  consider  Capital  a  useless  thing, 
nor  a  foe,  but  rather  as  the  greatest  and  most  useful 
friend  of  Labor.  They  must  at  all  times  cooperate  and 
pull  together  for  their  mutual  welfare.    .    .    ." 

"42.  The  True  Meaning  of  'a  Slacker.' — To-day  the 
nation  needs  every  able-bodied  man  to  be  at  work, 
producing  to  his  full  capacity  every  working  day. 
Due  to  strikes,  the  nation  is  behind  in  the  movement 
of  freight,  the  production  of  coal,  and  many  other 
commodities.  The  nations  of  Europe  need  both  food 
and  clothing.  The  weak,  the  sick,  the  aged,  and  little 
children  cry  out  for  production,  production. 

"As  a  consequence  of  all  this,  should  not  the  finger 
of  shame  be  pointed  at  a  man  who  loafs  off  the  job  or 
who  loafs  on  the  job?  No  matter  what  his  position 
may  be  in  life,  all  are  equally  guilty  of  being  a  slacker 
who  do  not  produce  up  to  their  full  maximum  ca- 
pacity to-day." 

"43.  The  American  Creed. — I  shall  repel  any  at- 
tempt at  revolution  through  industrial  strikes  as 
wholly  unwarranted." 

"41.  Some  Plain  and  Sane  Truths  About  the  For- 
eigner.— The  radical  'Reds'  are  spending  a  lot  of  time 
in  an  endeavor  to  convince  the  foreigner  that  he  is 
being  mistreated  in  this  country.  They  want  him  to 
hate  our  institutions." 

"36.  Talking  About  ^Reds/ — The  principal  advant- 
ages that  will  accrue  from  deporting  a  few  of  the 

III 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

'Reds'  will  lie  in  the  fact  that  it  will  cause  talk.  It  is 
notice  to  all  the  world  that  we  are  not  going  to  allow  a 
bunch  of  foreigners  to  run  this  country,  and  that  is  worth 
something;  but  the  main  thing  to  be  gained  from  the 
deportation  is  that  our  own  people  will  begin  talking 
Bolshevism,  and  in  the  talking,  think  about  it  and 
learn  something  of  the  terrible  failure  that  follows 
the  introduction  of  the  idea.  Sure,  let's  talk  about 
the  'Redsf  they  can't  stand  the  talk." 

"38.  America  and  Americans. — America  must  be 
made  safe  for — Americans.  Our  children  must  get  the 
spell  of  pride  that  we  got.  Every  man  and  woman  who 
will  not  get  in  line  must  get  out!  These  pregnant  fields 
of  ours  hold  sacred  blood.  And  the  memory  of  those 
who  gave  all  that  they  had  to  make  life  glorious  shall 
not  be  despoiled  by  those  whose  minds  reek  with 
poison  and  anarchy." 

The  Loyal  American  League  is  Americanizing  very 
busily  indeed  along  these  pregnant  lines. 

Here  is  a  statement  from  one  of  the  posts  of  the 
Veterans  of  Foreign  Wars: 

^^ Resolved,  That  this  organization  endeavor  to  bring 
about  the  speaking  of  the  language  of  our  country  at 
all  times  and  in  all  places  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
United  States. 

*' Resolved,  That  this  organization  emphatically 
favors  the  publication  of  all  newspapers  of  our  country 
in  the  language  of  our  country,  and  positively  dis- 
courages as  an  act  of  disloyalty  the  publication  of  any 
newspaper  in  the  language  of  any  other  race  or  country. 

*^ Resolved,  That  this  organization  use  its  utmost 
efforts  through  legislation  and  other  means  to  insist 
that  the  alien  population  of  this  country  prepare  to 
become  citizens,  or  else  prepare  to  leave  the  country; 
and  furthermore  that  all  aliens  who  for  cause  have 
been  refused  citizenship  be  at  once  deported." 

1 12 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

Now,  that  is  Americanization  as  is  Americanization! 

Let  us  cast  an  eye  over  the  origin  of  the  United 
Americans,  of  which  organization  President  Harding 
has  accepted  the  honorary  vice-presidency: 

"...  A  number  of  leading  men  representing 
many  states  conducted  a  quiet  but  energetic  and 
thorough  investigation  early  in  19 19  of  the  activities 
of  various  revolutionary  organizations  and  the  efforts 
of  these  activities.  These  men,  with  others  who  had 
become  interested,  held  a  meeting  in  Chicago,  June 
II,  1 9 19,  at  which  they  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  na- 
tional organization  which  they  named  'United  Amer- 
icans,' to  cope  with  the  conditions  revealed  by  this 
investigation. 

"For  instance,  the  minds  of  the  growing  generation 
are  being  poisoned  by  books  and  tracts  teaching  free 
love  and  anarchy,  sugar-coated  under  alluring  names. 
Many  teachers  have  been  led  to  advocate  unsound 
precepts;  so  have  many  university  professors  and 
school  superintendents. 

"Again,  radical  news  and  editorial  writers  have  in- 
filtrated into  newspaper  offices  everywhere,  ever  on 
the  alert  for  a  chance  to  spread  their  insidious  prop- 
aganda. Many  publications  more  or  less  openly 
preach  sedition.  Another  committee  will  render  useful 
service  by  studying  proper  means  to  neutralize  this 
source  of  contagion/' 

The  bulletin  of  the  San  Francisco  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce has  an  account  of  the  launching  of  the  California 
campaign  of  the  United  Americans.  A  resolution  was 
adopted  to  form  a  state  body  and  to  raise  $50,000  to 
carry  on  the  work.  It  was  further  explained  by  one 
of  the  national  officers  present  that  the  United  Ameri- 
cans had  been  fully  developed  in  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  states,    and  that  thirty-eight  states  had  chosen 

^  113 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

national  committeemen.  In  addressing  the  meeting, 
Frederick  J.  Koster,  vice-president  of  the  national 
board,  stated: 

"You  all  know  that  there  are  forces  at  work,  and 
they  seem  to  be  very  well  organized,  tending  toward 
the  destruction  of  our  Government,  tending  to  bring 
about  revolution.  It  is  time  that  we  should  unite  as 
Americans  in  defense  of  our  institutions.  ...  In 
America  one  thing  must  never  happen:  there  must 
never  be  permitted  a  fixation  of  class.  This  is  not  a 
nation  in  which  classes  dare  to  be  established.    .    .    ." 

Frederick  V.  Fisher,  assistant  national  director, 
remarked : 

"There  is  at  present  a  dangerous  tendency  toward 
class  expression  that  must  be  removed." 

It  would  be  enlightening  to  know  whether  the 
United  Americans  intend  to  start  their  missionary  work 
with  the  class  that  harbors  Judge  Gary,  who  is  rather 
intimately  associated  with  the  welfare  of  some  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  foreign  born  in  this  country,  or 
with  that  containing  Mr.  Debs. 

The  slogan  of  the  United  Americans  is:  "We  believe 
in  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Golden  Rule,  and  the 
Constitution    of   the    United    States." 

Sic  transit  gloria  mundi! 

We  may  detect  a  certain  prejudice  on  the  subject  in  *' 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  for  one  of 
their  spokeswomen  said : 

*'We  are  strangely  affected  by  the  clothes  we  wear. 
Garments  create  a  mental  and  social  atmosphere. 
What  can  be  hoped  for  the  Americanism  of  a  man 
who  insists  on  employing  a  London  tailor?  One's  very 
food  affects  his  Americanism.    What  kind  of  American 

114 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

consciousness  can  grow  in  the  atmosphere  of  sauer- 
kraut and  Limburger  cheese?  Or,  what  can  you  ex- 
pect of  the  Americanism  of  the  man  whose  breath 
always  reeks  of  garlic?" 

What  indeed,  madam,  what  indeed! 

The  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  are  not  wholly 
without  an  opinion  on  the  matter  either,  inasmuch  as 
the  District  of  Columbia  branch  gave  their  official 
endorsement  to  a  statement  made  by  Mrs.  George 
Maynard  Minor,  president  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution,  the  sister  organization.  This 
statement  had  to  do  with  the  danger  of  radical  move- 
ments and  propaganda  in  this  country.  At  the  same 
meeting  of  the  Sons  at  which  endorsement  was  made 
of  Mrs.  Minor's  warning,  an  address  was  given  by 
Wade  Hampton  Ellis,  the  speaker  of  the  evening. 
This  is  what  Mr.  Ellis  thinks  about  it. 

"There  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  the  number  of 
reckless  agitators  and  fanatics  who  are  openly  and 
defiantly  preaching  the  doctrine  of  force  and  violence 
in  the  destruction  of  all  government  is  growing  every 
day.  There  are  250  daily,  weekly,  and  monthly  pub- 
lications in  the  United  States  which  are  boldly  advo- 
cating armed  revolution  right  here  in  America.  .  .  . 
In  spite  of  all  this  the  representatives  of  transatlantic 
steamship  companies  which  operate  into  the  port  of 
New  York  alone  have  announced  that  there  are 
1 5,000,000  Europeans  clamoring  for  passage  to  Amer- 
ica. .  .  .  There  is  a  very  quick  and  effective  remedy 
in  existing  laws  for  them  (i.  e.,  the  aliens).  If  they 
are  unfit  they  may  be  excluded.  If  they  are  dangerous 
after  they  get  here  they  may  be  deported.  These  laws 
must  be  rigorously  enforced.  They  must  love  the 
country  or  leave  it.  They  must  get  out  or  get  under — 
get  out  of  the  country  or  get  under  the  flag." 

115 


'ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Would  it  be  an  error  to  believe  that  neither  the 
Sons,  the  Daughters,  nor  Mr.  Ellis,  whose  address  they 
applauded,  have  much  sympathy  with  those  immi- 
grants whom  they  are  about  to  Americanize?  And  the 
last  two  sentences  are  really  inimitable. 

The  American  Legion  presents  a  problem  of  a  some- 
what different  nature.  There  is  a  wide  divergence 
between  what  the  Legion  says  and  what  it  does. 
In  its  public  statements,  in  its  bulletins  from  national 
headquarters,  the  Legion  seems  sound  on  Americaniza- 
tion, though  it  is  very  vague.  On  the  other  hand,  and 
in  spite  of  this,  the  foreign-born  groups  have  no  con- 
fidence whatever  in  the  Legion,  and  are  more  than 
likely  to  regard  any  Americanization  issuing  from  this 
source  with  a  deep  and  cordial  suspicion.  Why? 
Probably  tor  a  variety  of  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
the  American  Legion  has  (forgive  the  repetition)  given 
its  endorsement  to  the  Americanization  program  and 
policy  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association;  in 
the  second,  it  has  openly  joined  hands  with  the  Na- 
tional Security  League,  which  is  thoroughly  tainted 
with  Palmerism,  in  calling  the  National  American 
Council.  More  than  these,  however,  is  the  fact  that 
individual  Legion  posts  have  appeared  to  regard 
Americanization  more  as  super-police  duty  than  as 
fraternal  understanding.  It  is  difficult  to  mob  Kreisler's 
concerts,  break  up  meetings  being  held  by  Poles  and 
Lithuanians,  refuse  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor 
permission  to  speak,  threaten  German  societies  with 
rifles  when  they  try  to  hold  a  tag-day  for  starving 
women  and  children,  and  endorse  a  plan  by  which 
Legion  members  are  to  be  mobilized  for  active  duty 
during  times  of  strikes  by  "radicals,"  and  still  have  it 

ii6 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

believed  that  you  are  doing  unprejudiced  American- 
ization work.  The  fault  appears  to  be  chiefly  with 
individual  posts,  but  unless  national  headquarters 
takes  public  and  stringent  action  against  such  posts 
the  Legion  must  expect  to  be  misunderstood.  Cer- 
tainly the  foreign  born  have  no  doubts  in  the  matter. 
To  the  mass  of  them  the  Legion  is,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
anathema.     There  is  nothing  to  be  hoped  for  here. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  lamentable 
Ku  Klux  Klan,  the  platform  of  which  is  anti-Colored, 
anti-Jewish,  anti-Catholic,  and  anti-Alien.  These  wor- 
shipers of  the  god  of  negation  who  advertise  themselves 
as  **ioo  per  cent  Americans,"  are  exerting  an  in- 
creasingly powerful  and  malign  influence  through  the 
southern,  southwestern,  and  western  states.  The  or- 
ganization is  thoroughly  inimical,  and  should  be 
stamped  out  like  any  other  plague. 

The  actual  Americanization  work  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  United  States  is  carried  on  by  its 
Committee  on  American  Ideals.  Just  how  much  this 
will  eventually  amount  to  it  is  difficult  to  predict,  but 
a  few  excerpts  from  some  of  the  Information  Sheets 
sent  by  this  Committee  to  members,  and  carefully 
marked  ^^Not  for  Publication,''  will  serve  to  show  a 
certain  slant: 

*' Personnel  Work. — Information  has  reached  the  Com- 
mittee on  American  Ideals  that  there  is  in  existence 
an  association  whose  members  are  trying  to  obtain 
employment  as  personnel  administrators  with  large 
corporations,  with  the  object  of  re-creating  manage- 
ment along  radical  lines.  The  reports  received  indi- 
cate that  some  of  these  people  have  obtained  positions 
in  army  arsenals,  with  steel  companies,  and  with  other 

117 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

industrial  concerns,  and  that  they  will  carry  on  their 
proposed  activities  in  accordance  with  a  definite  plan. 
'^Police  Work. — Superintendent  of  Public  Safety 
Mills,  of  Philadelphia,  announced  recently  that  the 
police  department  will  hereafter  have  a  camera  squad, 
which  will  be  sent  out  on  all  riot  calls  and  take  photo- 
graphs of  persons  engaged  in  causing  riots  and  similar 
disturbances.  It  is  anticipated  that  moving-picture 
cameras  will  eventually  be  employed  for  this  work, 
and  that  the  police  will  be  enabled  to  study,  within  a 
few  hours,  photographs  of  riots  which  will  permit  them 
to  determine  to  a  degree  who  the  leaders  of  the  dis- 
turbance were.  The  importance  of  having  photo- 
graphs as  evidence  where  large  masses  of  people  are 
involved  is  obvious,'  said  Superintendent  Mills.  The 
Committee  on  American  Ideals  suggests  that  in  com- 
munities of  considerable  size  where  riots  may  take 
place,  the  attention  of  the  local  authorities  be  called 
to  this  suggestion  with  a  view  to  providing  in  advance 
for  the  use  of  cameras  as  suggested." 

Americanization  conducted  along  these  lines  is  going 
to  be  highly  dangerous  for  someone,  but  whether  the 
doctor  or  the  patient  it  is  impossible  to  say.  We  may 
be  sure,  however,  that  so  far  as  the  immigrant  is  con- 
cerned, the  intention  is  either  to  kill  or  cure.  And  one 
is  able  to  perceive  a  certain  bias.  The  organization 
that  has  been  most  popular  with  the  United  States 
Chamber  of  Commerce  is  the  United  Americans;  but 
just  how  far  this  interest  extends  I  am  unable  to  say. 

The  local  chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of  trade, 
boards  of  commerce,  and  the  like  throughout  the 
country  are  most  of  them  actively  engaged  in  the  work. 
Their  points  of  view  and  their  programs  vary  greatly, 
and  while  many  of  them  appear  to  be  doing  excellent 
work,  some  are  perhaps  just  a  trifle  less  excellent.  It 
is  to  be  remembered  that  when  so  much  Americaniza- 

ii8 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

tion  is  simply  a  slight  mask  for  anti-radicalism  and 
anti-labor  campaigns  these  commercial  and  trade  or- 
ganizations naturally  fall  under  suspicion.  It  is  so 
natural  to  expect  them  to  do  the  wrong  thing,  to  take 
sides  definitely,  that  one  has  the  right  to  insist  that 
they  be  not  only  clear  in  their  statements,  but  even  that 
they  lean  over  backward  in  order  to  avoid  any  trace 
of  partisanship. 

The  Americanization  Committee  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Pittsburgh  included  the  following  in  its 
* 'Statement  of  Principles  and  Tentative  Plan": 

"The  labor  turn-over  problem  has  become  and  is 
becoming  increasingly  vital  to  the  continued  pros- 
perity of  our  community.  A  well-conducted,  con- 
structive, unified  Americanization  program,  while  not 
advocated  as  the  panacea  for  all  industrial  ills,  will, 
beyond  question,  materially  save  in  dollars  and  cents 
by  cutting  down  on  this  item  of  great  loss." 

The  Americanization  Committee  of  the  Philadelphia 
Chamber  of  Commerce  sent  a  letter  to  the  business 
houses  of  the  city,  in  which  the  following  was  given 
as  the  desirable  result  to  be  attained  through  Ameri- 
canization : 

"Decrease  of  friction  and  disorder  among  the  work- 
men; decrease  of  labor  turn-over;  increase  in  produc- 
tion ;  decrease  of  spoiled  material ;  better  care  of  tools 
and  machinery;  decrease  of  accidents  and  strikes;  in- 
creased intelligence  and  alertness  of  the  workers,  and 
stabilization  of  attitude  toward  employers." 

Yes,  but  what  does  the  foreign  worker  get  out  of  it? 

It  is  a  hard  proposition  to  solve.  Are  the  chambers 
of  commerce  and  organizations  of  a  similar  nature  to 
be    barred    from    Americanization    work    altogether? 

119 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

They  should  not  be,  for  some  of  them  have  splendid 
programs  which  are  being  carried  out  in  an  excellent 
fashion.  There  is  a  natural  bias,  however,  that  must 
be  taken  into  consideration  and  duly  accounted  for. 
One  is  likely  enough  to  look  for  an  unprejudiced  point 
of  view  from  a  wholly  non-partisan  agency,  though  one 
does  not  always  get  it,  but  where  there  is  the  slightest 
possibility  of  prejudice  on  either  the  one  side  or  the 
other,  one  must  not  only  look,  but  look  with  suspicion. 
The  burden  of  proof  is  with  the  presumptive  offender. 

We  have  seen  in  the  course  of  these  pages  how 
stupidity,  ignorance,  and  prejudice  have  all  played 
their  parts  in  Americanization.  Our  case,  even  as  we 
have  made  it,  is  by  no  means  complete.  It  is  merely 
an  indictment  by  implication.  More  might  be  said 
about  the  organizations  and  agencies  with  which  we 
have  dealt,  and  there  are  other  organizations  no  less 
worthy  of  dishonorable  mention.  But  if  the  reader 
has  been  awakened  to  a  danger,  if  he  has  been  moved 
to  inquire  for  himself,  and  to  select  or  reject  not  only 
by  actual  evidence,  but  by  that  subtler  standard  by 
which  each  one  of  us  must  judge  himself,  the  task  is 
well  justified.  And  now  for  one  last  word  on  which  the 
whole  issue  depends:    What  is  Americanization? 

"To  Americanize"  is  an  active,  transitive  verb:  that 
is  the  trouble.  It  implies,  as  we  have  said,  something 
done  to  somebody  by  someone  else;  it  suggests  an  ac- 
tion which  involves  going  from  one  point  to  another. 
What  it  should  mean,  what  we  must  make  it  mean,  is 
a  mutuality  of  action  by  which  those  at  either  end  of 
the  space  separating  them  meet  at  a  central  point. 
When  they  meet  there,  we  shall  have  true  Americaniza- 
tion, for  that  central  point  is  that  which  is  too  often 

1 20 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

left  out  of  consideration — the  spirit  of  America  itself. 
He  who  tries  to  substitute  for  it  a  selfish  end,  he  whose 
mind  is  not  open  and  whose  hands  are  not  clean,  will 
never  reach  the  goal,  though  he  may  lead  others 
astray  along  the  by-path  of  his  own  particular  en- 
deavor. 

Most  of  the  foreign  born  get  their  only  preconceived 
idea  of  American  democracy  through  two  things:  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Bill  of  Rights. 
They  come  here  expecting  that  the  principles  enun- 
ciated in  these  documents  are  living  forces  which  dic- 
tate the  policy  and  procedure  of  our  national  life. 
They  are  disappointed.  There  is  not  a  single  dogma 
in  either  of  these  declarations  that  we  have  not  violated 
wantonly,  frequently,  and  openly  against  our  immi- 
grants in  the  past  twenty  years.  Until  the  phrase 
"Law  and  Order"  has  been  revised  to  read  "Law,  Order, 
and  Justice,"  it  will  constitute  nothing  but  a  menace. 
The  code  by  reason  of  which  liberty  in  this  country 
was  brought  into  being  has  been  well  nigh  demolished, 
and  the  foreign-born  seeks  for  another  code  to  guide 
him.  He  finds  the  god  of  material  success  hailed  as 
that  which  made  America  great,  and  he  either  suc- 
cumbs to  this  doctrine  or  struggles  on  in  the  hope  that 
the  liberty  he  has  not  found  may  be  granted  to  his 
children.  In  his  struggles  he  may  perchance  fall  into 
the  pitfalls  digged  for  the  discontented;  but  if  he  falls 
it  is  by  reason  of  his  strength,  not  of  his  weakness.  It 
is  we  who  have  forgotten,  and  it  is  he  who  has  re- 
membered. 

There  have  been  many  quotations  in  these  pages, 
so  let  us  quote  once  more.  It  was  Thomas  Jefferson 
who  said  during  the  War  of  Independence: 

121 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

"The  spirit  of  the  times  may  alter,  will  alter.  Our 
rulers  will  become  corrupt,  our  people  careless.  A 
single  zealot  may  become  persecutor,  and  better  men 
be  his  victims.  It  can  never  be  too  often  repeated  that 
the  time  for  fixing  the  essential  right,  on  a  legal  basis, 
is  while  our  rulers  are  honest,  ourselves  united.  From 
the  conclusion  of  this  war  we  shall  be  going  downhill. 
It  will  not  then  be  necessary  to  resort  every  moment 
to  the  people  for  support.  They  will  be  forgotten, 
therefore,  and  their  rights  disregarded.  They  will  for- 
get themselves  in  the  sole  faculty  of  making  money, 
and  will  never  think  of  uniting  to  effect  a  due  respect 
for  their  rights.  The  shackles,  therefore,  which  shall 
not  be  knocked  off  at  the  conclusion  of  this  war  will 
be  heavier  and  heavier,  till  our  rights  shall  revive  or 
expire  in  a  convulsion." 

Jefferson's  prophecy  has  been  fulfilled,  and  the  fact 
of  that  fulfillment  constitutes  the  only  real  barrier 
between  us  and  those  who  have  come  to  us  seeking 
that  essential  right  which  we  have  let  slip  in  our  sole 
faculty  of  making  money.  Nine  out  of  every  ten  im- 
migrants who  come  here  with  any  political  or  social 
ideal  in  mind  come  expecting  and  searching  for  the 
Americanism  of  1776,  only  to  be  met  with  the  100 
per  cent  variety.  One  hundred  per  cent  Americanism 
of  the  twentieth  century  is  a  bitter  mockery  of  that 
Americanism  on  which  this  nation  was  founded,  and 
we  must  either  return  to  and  realize  again  the  funda- 
mental principles  and  rights  of  our  forefathers  or  openly 
repudiate  them  in  favor  of  other  principles  and  rights 
which  may  be  far  different.  Unless  both  native  and 
foreign  born  work  shoulder  to  shoulder  toward  the 
actual  accomplishment  of  that  democratic  ideal  to 
which  to-day  we  pay  only  lip-service,  Americanization 
will  continue  to  be  what  it  too  often  is,  a  mask  behind 

122 


PSEUDO-AMERICANIZATION 

which  is  concealed  selfishness,  prejudice,  intolerance, 
and  the  desire  for  that  power  which  is  realized  in  terms 
of  money.  If  Americanization  is  ever  to  become  a  sin- 
cerely constructive  force  in  our  national  life,  it  must 
begin  with  the  native  Americans. 

June,  192 1. 


123 


XII 
NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

THE  unmethodical  American  mind  is  fond  of 
figures.  It  is  the  unconscious  tribute  paid  by 
the  inexact  to  the  exacting.  A  decimal  point 
takes  the  place  of  the  sacred  cat  of  Egypt,  and  a  per- 
centage sign  comes  to  have  all  the  blighting  mystery 
of  the  crocodile.  As  usual,  however,  the  symbol  is 
finally  worshiped  for  itself  alone,  while  the  thought 
it  was  designed  to  express  is  forgotten.  Thus  we  have 
one-half  of  i  per  cent  beer  and  3  per  cent  immigration. 
That  is,  we  have  99^^  per  cent  dissatisfaction  on  the 
one  hand  and  97  per  cent  chaos  on  the  other.  Neither 
of  these  self-imposed  percentages  can  be  said  to  be 
an  unqualified  success;  the  beer,  because  it  has  too 
little  kick;  the  immigration,  because  it  has  too  much. 
The  present  restrictive  immigration  law  provides  in 
effect  that  only  3  per  cent  of  the  number  of  those  al- 
ready residing  in  this  country  of  each  nationality  shall 
be  admitted  during  the  period  the  law  is  in  force. 
Nationality  is  determined  by  place  of  birth,  and  right 
here  there  is  trouble.  For  instance :  A  story  is  current 
that  an  Englishman,  born  in  Egypt  of  English  parents, 
was  refused  entry  on  the  ground  that  the  quota  for 
Egypt  was  exhausted.  Having  been  born  in  Egypt, 
he  was,  according  to  law,  an  Egyptian.  If  he  had  been 
born  in  a  barn  he  probably  would  have  been  admitted 
as  hay.  Truly  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians 
were  as  mere  nursery  jingles  compared  to  some  of  our 

124 


NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

legislation!  And  this  is  not  an  isolated  instance.  It  is 
astonishing  what  a  number  of  people  are  thoughtless 
enough  to  be  born  far  from  home.  The  Englishman 
has  plenty  of  brothers  and  sisters  in  misfortune.  But 
there  is  more  than  that. 

Recently  a  young  girl  applied  for  admission  to  this 
country  through  Ellis  Island.  She  was  a  Czech, 
twenty- two  years  old,  with  Czech  parents  living  in 
Illinois,  who  had  sent  for  her.  She  was  healthy,  literate, 
and  capable,  but — she  had  been  born  in  Jugoslavia. 
The  Jugoslav  monthly  quota  had  been  exhausted, 
though  the  Czechoslovak  was  not.  Nevertheless,  she 
was  classed  as  a  Jugoslav,  and  was  hence  refused  entry 
into  this  country,  where  her  parents  were  anxiously 
awaiting  her,  and  this,  despite  the  fact  that  her  parents 
were  Czech,  that  she  herself  was  a  citizen  of  Czecho- 
slovakia, and  that  she  had  lived  in  Czechoslovakia  for 
years.  Problems  of  this  type  are  all  too  common. 
The  authorities  can  do  nothing;  they  are  bound  hand 
and  foot  by  a  badly  written  law.  The  ministry  of 
Jugoslavia  met  the  situation  sensibly  enough  by 
forbidding  any  further  sale  of  steamship  tickets  to 
America.  Jugoslavs,  who  had  purchased  and  paid  for 
tickets,  were  allowed  to  leave  only  if  those  tickets  were 
purchased  before  the  1 6th  of  July  and  if  the  owners 
actually  sailed  before  the  15th  of  September.  Who- 
ever was  unable  to  leave  before  that  time  was  reim- 
bursed for  his  ticket.  Thus  the  steamship  companies 
were  forced  willy-nilly  to  cooperate.  And,  speaking 
of  steamship  companies,  that  brings  up  another  phase 
of  the  matter. 

The  steamship  companies  have  discovered  how  to 
beat  our  new  3  per  cent  law  so  that  whoever  else  loses 

125 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

they  won't.  The  law  provides  that  if  a  steamship 
company  transports  to  this  country  any  person  who 
is  inadmissible,  the  company  shall  furnish  the  trans- 
portation of  that  person  back  to  the  point  of  embarka- 
tion and,  in  some  instances,  pay  an  additional  fine. 
This  provision  is  manifestly  wise  and  just.  But  with 
the  greatly  increased  number  of  immigrants  returned 
to  the  old  countries  because  of  the  3  per  cent  law,  be- 
cause they  are  in  excess  of  their  various  national 
quotas,  some  of  the  steamship  companies  began  to 
take  thought.  They  feared  that  they  would  actually 
lose  money  on  the  transaction.  So  some  of  them  simply 
beat  the  game  by  charging  enough  for  a  third  class 
fare  to  the  United  States  not  only  to  cover  the  cost  of 
passage  over,  but  that  of  the  passage  back  again  in  the 
bargain.  In  this  way  if  an  immigrant  is  refused  ad- 
mission, he  has  paid  his  own  fare  home  again.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  how  about  the  thousands  who  are 
eligible  and  who  are  admitted?  Their  fare  is  paid  both 
ways,  too.  It  is  a  profitable  enough  business  for  the 
company  engaged  in  it,  but  it  does  seem  rather  rough 
on  the  immigrant,  who  has  spent  years  trying  to  scrape 
enough  together  to  get  to  the  country  where  "The 
Promise  is  Performed."  In  consequence  of  this  some 
of  the  rates  for  a  third-class  passage  to  the  United 
States  have  become,  comparatively  speaking,  tre- 
mendous. 

It  costs  much  more  to  come  here  than  to  go.  For 
instance,  a  line  which  charges  $145  for  a  second-class 
fare  to  Europe  charges  $125  for  a  third-class  fare  to 
the  United  States.  On  an  average,  and  to  show  the  pro- 
portions, it  may  be  said  that  a  line  charging  $100  for  a 
second-class  passage  over  here  will  probably  charge 

126 


NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

nowadays  about  %7')  for  a  third-class  passage.  Con- 
sidering what  the  rates  used  to  be,  and  more  especially 
considering  the  accommodations  of  the  usual  third 
class,  this  is  appalling.  Many  non-admissible  immi- 
grants who  have  been  returned  to  their  own  countries 
have  complained,  too,  that  while  the  accommodations 
afforded  them  in  the  third  class  coming  over  here  were 
hardly  bearable,  the  accommodations  they  were 
obliged  to  put  up  with  on  the  return  trip  were  truly 
ghastly.  This  attitude  on  the  part  of  some  steamship 
companies  has  made  matters  very  difficult  both  for 
the  immigrant  and  for  the  immigration  authorities 
on  this  side.  Instead  of  cooperating  to  make  the  en- 
forcing of  the  3  per  cent  law  as  simple  and  as  easy  as 
possible,  they  have  been  ruthless  in  making  it  more 
complex,  apparently  indifferent  just  so  long  as  they 
were  able  to  make  a  profit. 

The  situation  culminated  in  what  may  be  called 
"the  Aquitania  incident."  The  Hungarian  quota 
for  the  year  w^as  exhausted  on  December  8th.  At 
that  time  there  were  150  Hungarians  being  held  at 
Ellis  Island  because  they  were  in  excess  of  the  quota. 
On  December  9th  the  Aquitania  of  the  Cunard  Line 
arrived  with  204  more  Hungarian  immigrants.  Soon 
after  the  S.  S.  Paris  came  in,  bringing  twenty  Hun- 
garians, and  the  Kroonland  followed  with  forty,  thus 
making  a  total  of  414  Hungarians  who  could  not  be 
admitted.  The  situation  of  these  people  was  des- 
perate. They  had  sold  all  their  belongings  in  Hungary 
preparatory  to  beginning  life  in  a  new  country.  If 
they  were  deported  they  could  not  even  be  landed  in 
Hungary,  but  would  have  to  disembark  at  Cherbourg, 
and  many  of  them  had  not  enough  money  to  regain 

127 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

the  Hungarian  border.  Nearly  all  of  these  unfortu- 
nates had  passports  vis6d  in  regular  order  by  American 
Consuls  abroad.  They  were  told  that  they  would  be 
allowed  to  land  in  America,  and  their  steamship  tickets 
were  bought  on  that  understanding.  Americans  of 
Hungarian  birth  and  descent  were  much  concerned 
over  the  matter;  the  Hungarian  press  and  organizations 
in  this  country  evinced  a  well- war  ran  ted  agitation; 
representations  were  made  to  President  Harding  and 
to  Secretary  of  Labor  Davis  in  the  effort  to  relieve  the 
sufferings  of  these  414  marooned  immigrants  and  to 
save  them  from  possible  ruin.  Secretary  Davis  re- 
sponded by  doing  the  only  humane  thing  he  could  do 
under  the  law — admitting  the  whole  414  under  a  bond, 
which  will  be  extended  until  Congress  legislates  to 
make  the  admission  permanent  and  legal. 

And  Congress,  having  in  the  first  instance  given 
birth  to  the  grotesque  3  per  cent  law,  is  at  present 
only  concerned  in  reducing  this  percentage  still  further. 
That  is  as  though  a  motorist  had  run  into  a  man, 
broken  his  legs,  and  then,  instead  of  endeavoring  to 
repair  the  damage  his  stupidity  had  caused,  had  de- 
cided to  come  back  and  run  over  him  again  in  order 
to  finish  the  job  thoroughly.  It  is  like  the  old  saw, 
'The  only  good  Indian  is  a  dead  Indian."  In  this  in- 
stance Congress  evidently  proceeds  on  the  policy  that 
'The  only  good  immigrant  is  one  who  does  not  immi- 
grate." What  is  needed  is  to  repair  the  machinery, 
not  to  scuttle  the  ship.  The  Bureau  of  Immigration 
should  be  given  more  power,  and  the  steamship  com- 
panies should  be  brought  into  line. 

In  the  immediate  emergency  Secretary  Davis  has 
asked  the  Attorney  General  to  bring  action  against 

128 


NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

the  Cunard  Line,  and  to  fine  them  as  severely  as  the 
law  permits.  The  outcome  is  uncertain.  The  Cunard 
Line  protests  its  innocence,  saying  that  it  was  not 
informed  of  the  exhaustion  of  the  quota  until  too  late. 
On  the  other  hand,  Commissioner  General  Husband 
characterizes  the  Cunard  Line  as  an  old  offender. 
What  the  legal  status  of  this  particular  case  is  I  do 
not  know,  but  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  in  my  mind 
but  that  certain  steamship  companies  have  evaded  the 
law  just  so  far  as  they  were  able,  leaving  the  miserable 
immigrants  to  foot  the  bills  and  the  Bureau  of  Immi- 
gration to  take  the  blame. 

Further  than  this,  it  is  notable  that,  as  most  of  these 
Hungarian  immigrants  have  had  their  passports  vis6d, 
more  vis6s  have  been  issued  than  the  national  quotas 
allowed  for.  This  points  either  to  a  lack  of  proper 
liaison  between  our  Consular  Service  in  Europe  and 
the  immigration  authorities  on  this  side,  or  to  deplor- 
able carelessness  on  the  part  of  individual  consuls. 

The  immigration  authorities  themselves,  with  the 
best  intentions  in  the  world,  have  been  led  astray  in 
the  matter.  When  the  present  law,  the  Dillingham 
Act,  was  passed  very  little  time  was  allowed  before  it 
went  into  operation.  It  was  a  matter  of  a  few  weeks 
only.  The  obvious  result  of  this  was  that  at  the  very 
outset  the  monthly  quotas  of  several  of  the  nation- 
alities were  exceeded  almost  perforce.  There  had  not 
been  time  to  get  the  law  really  in  working  order. 
Many  immigrants  found  themselves  of  a  sudden  liable 
to  deportation  through  no  fault  of  their  own.  It  was 
unjust,  and  the  immigration  officials,  recognizing  this 
fact,  tried  to  find  a  way  of  beating  the  devil  around  the 
bush  until  conditions  should  be  adjusted.     They  de- 

^  129 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

cided  to  let  these  prospective  immigrants  into  the 
country  under  bond.  An  immigrant  can  be  admitted 
in  this  manner  for  six,  twelve,  or  eighteen  months. 
A  nominal  bond  is  required  as  a  guarantee  that  he  will 
return  when  his  time  is  up.  The  whole  procedure  is 
devised  actually  to  cover  the  case  of  those  immigrants 
who  come  here  temporarily,  and  who  have  no  inten- 
tion of  taking  up  permanent  residence  in  this  country. 
But  those  immigrants,  who  were  in  excess  of  their 
various  national  quotas  and  who  were  admitted  under 
bond,  did  come  here  to  establish  themselves  perma- 
nently. 

They  had,  and  have,  no  present  intention  of  return- 
ing. Instead  of  reporting  back  to  the  immigration 
authorities  when  their  time  is  up  so  that  they  can  be 
checked  out  and  sent  back  to  Europe,  they  will,  for 
the  most  part,  simply  lose  themselves  and  stay  on. 
The  authorities  were  not  only  merciful,  but,  strange 
to  add,  they  were  legally  right  in  the  bargain.  It  was 
simply  a  hole  in  the  law.  Now  this  was  all  very  well, 
but  the  fact  is  that  one  of  two  things  may  happen. 
If  the  quota  of  any  nationality  is  not  exhausted  at 
the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  those  immigrants  belonging 
to  that  nationality  and  who  have  been  admitted  under 
bond,  can  and  will  be  counted  in  on  the  quota.  Thus 
their  permanent  residence  here  will  be  made  legal. ^ 
On  the  other  hand,  those  immigrants  admitted  under 
bond  who  belong  to  nationalities  the  quota  of  which 
is  exhausted  will  be  here  illegally.  They  cannot  be 
reached  for  deportation  in  most  instances,  and  the 
attempt  to  naturalize  them  will  probably  be  attended 

^The  yearly  quotas  of  over  half  the  nationalities  are  already 
exhausted,  so  that  there  is  small  hope  in  this  direction. 

130  - 


NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

by  legal  difficulties.  If  they  apply  for  their  first  papers, 
the  judge  may  or  may  not  give  them;  he  may  in  fact 
return  the  applicants  to  the  port  of  entry  for  deporta- 
tion. Certainly  it  was  a  temptation  to  beat  a  poor 
law,  and  at  the  same  time  to  show  mercy  where  it 
was  due.  The  immigration  authorities  are  in  no  way 
to  blame.  Their  intentions  were  excellent.  Neverthe- 
less, see  where  this  procedure  may  lead  them!  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  American  habit  of  hasty 
legislation  is  apt  to  provoke  so  complex  a  situation 
that  no  one  on  earth  can  follow  a  thread  through 
without  cutting  a  knot. 

And  with  the  newer  and  smaller  nations — how  does 
the  3  per  cent  law  affect  them?  Two  examples  will 
suffice  to  show.  The  Lithuanians  are  ignored.  Under 
this  law  they  are  classed  as  Russians,  God  save  the 
mark!  They  are  allowed  no  quota  of  their  own.  If  a 
Lithuanian  desires  to  enter  America,  he  must  swear 
that  he  is  a  Russian;  he  must  be  false  to  his  mother 
country.  Surely  this  is  strange.  Wait  a  bit:  perhaps 
the  situation  of  the  former  Russian  Ukraine  will  ex- 
plain matters. 

According  to  the  Dillingham  Act,  the  3  per  cent 
exclusion  law,  all  changes  in  political  boundaries  since 
19 10  shall  be  disregarded  unless  the  creation  of  a  new 
country  or  the  transfer  of  territory  from  one  country 
to  another  has  been  officially  recognized  by  the  United 
States.  In  consequence  of  this  provision,  immigrants 
from  the  former  Russian  Ukraine,  actually  the  Ukrai- 
nian Soviet,  which  is  of  course  unrecognized  by  the 
United  States,  are  charged  against  the  Russian  quota. 
However,  emigration  has  been  made  so  difficult  by 
the  Soviet  authorities  themselves  that  there  is  prac- 

131 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

tically  no  chance  for  the  Ukrainian  would-be  emigrant 
to  come  over  and  suffer  on  this  side  of  the  water.  The 
Russian  yearly  quota,  34,247,  is  still  unexhausted 
(18,938  was  the  balance  on  January  31st),  but  as  yet 
practically  only  Jewish  immigrants  have  arrived  from 
the  Ukraine. 

A  large  part  of  the  former  Russian  Ukraine,  Volhynia, 
and  Kholmland,  was  taken  by  Poland,  and  was  in  fact 
ceded  to  Poland  by  the  Soviet  Government  in  the 
Treaty  of  Riga  in  1920.  The  Treaty  of  Riga,  however, 
and  the  eastern  boundary  of  Poland  as  established  by 
this  treaty  have  never  been  recognized  by  the  United 
States,  who  thus  apparently  maintains  her  policy 
of  "splendid  isolation"  from  foreign  entanglements. 
Nevertheless,  and  apparently  at  total  variance  with 
this  principle  of  disregarding  the  new  boundaries,  the 
natives  of  these  parts  of  the  Ukraine  have  been  charged 
to  the  quota  of  Poland.  Explain  this  who  can.  In 
order  to  come  to  America,  natives  from  this  territory 
must  "disguise"  themselves  as  Poles  and  take  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  Poland,  so  that  with  them  the  3  per 
cent  law  is  primarily  a  matter  of  Polish  home-politics. 

Eastern  Galicia,  formerly  a  province  of  Austria,  is 
the  only  Ukrainian  territory  which  has  been  granted  a 
separate  immigration  quota  because  of  its  political 
status,  which  is  defined  as  follows: 

"As  Eastern  Galicia  was  given  up  by  Austria,  ac- 
cording to  the  Treaty  of  St.  Germain,  but  is  not  yet 
allotted  to  any  other  country,  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Poland  being  not  yet  defined,  the  quota  of  Eastern 
Galicia  is  5,781  for  the  fiscal  year  of  1921-22." 


132 


NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

This  gives  a  monthly  quota  of  1,156,  and  according 
to  the  reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  issued  on 
October  3d,  only  302  immigrants  arrived  from  Eastern 
Galicia  during  the  first  two  months  of  the  fiscal  year 
as  stated,  July  ist  to  August  31st.  Nevertheless,  a 
Ukrainian  immigrant  from  this  territory,  who  is  at 
present  on  Long  Island,  has  not  been  able  as  yet  to 
bring  over  his  family  because  of  "limitation  of  immi- 
gration." He  sent  them  transportation  in  the  form 
of  steamship  tickets,  affidavits,  and  full  information 
as  to  how  to  obtain  passports  and  vises.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  their  passports,  but  the  affidavits 
were  taken  from  them  by  the  same  Polish  authorities 
who  issued  the  passports.  And,  after  making  a  long 
and  expensive  journey  to  Warsaw,  they  were  refused 
American  vis&.  To  cap  the  climax,  they  were  then 
advised  not  to  wait  for  another  affidavit,  but  to  return 
to  their  Galician  village,  because  the  quota  for  their 
nationality  was  exhausted  and  they  could  not  be 
admitted  even  if  they  were  allowed  to  sail.  This  was 
at  a  time  when  less  than  one-third  of  the  monthly 
quota  for  Eastern  Galicia  had  been  filled,  and  when  not 
even  one-nineteenth  of  the  yearly  quota  was  used  up. 
Naturally,  not  only  the  four  European  members  of  the 
family  suffered  serious  loss  through  this  strange  lapse, 
but  the  American  member  as  well  was  out  the  cost  of 
the  steamship  tickets  he  had  sent  over. 

In  spite  of  this  adherence  to  certain  of  the  old 
political  boundaries  on  the  one  hand,  we  find  that 
numerous  complaints  are  being  received  from  former 
Hungarians  because  they  are  being  classified  as  Jugo- 
slavs, Czechoslovaks,  Poles,  and  Roumanians. 

As  for  the  Jugoslavs,  their  plight  is  indeed  deplor- 

133 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

able.      And  right  here  it  may  be  interesting  to  quote 
again  direct  from  the  law: 

"The  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary  of  Commerce, 
and  the  Secretary  of  Labor  jointly  shall,  as  soon  as 
feasible  after  the  enactment  of  this  act,  prepare  a 
statement  showing  the  number  of  persons  of  the  various 
nationalities  resident  in  the  United  States  as  determined 
by  the  United  States  census  of  1910,  which  statement 
shall  be  the  population  basis  for  the  purposes  of  the 
act.  In  case  of  changes  in  political  boundaries  in  foreign 
countries  occurring  subsequent  to  19 10  and  resulting 
(i)  in  the  creation  of  new  countries,  the  Governments 
of  which  are  recognized  by  the  United  States,  and  (2) 
in  the  transfer  of  territory  from  one  country  to  an- 
other, such  transfer  being  recognized  by  the  United 
States,  such  officials  jointly  shall  estimate  the  number 
of  persons  resident  in  the  United  States  in  1910  who 
were  born  within  the  area  included  in  such  new  coun- 
tries or  in  such  territories  so  transferred,  and  revise 
the  population  basis  as  to  each  country  involved  in 
such  change  of  political  boundary." 

The  real  trouble  is  that  many  of  the  racial  groups 
feel  that  these  estimates  have  not  been  accurately 
made.  It  is  apparent  that  at  the  very  least  such  a 
task  would  be  most  intricate  and  difficult.  Yet  almost 
no  time  was  allowed  to  gather  or  to  analyze  the  neces- 
sary data.  The  1920  census  figures  were  not  yet 
available,  and  perhaps  it  was  as  well  that  they  were 
not,  for,  as  far  as  the  immigrant  groups  were  con- 
cerned, this  census  only  tended  to  make  a  bad  matter 
worse.  The  yearly  quota  allowed  Jugoslavia  is  only 
6,405,  while  that  of  Austria  is  7,444,  and  yet  Jugo- 
slavia has  a  population  of  about  14,000,000,  while 
Austria  has  only  about  6,000,000.     In  view  of  this, 

134 


NINETY-SEVEN  PER  CENT  CHAOS 

although  there  has  not  been  an  unusually  large  immi- 
gration from  Jugoslavia,  the  quota  is  already  exhausted. 
Probably  it  is  futile  to  lament  over  the  pathos  of  in- 
dividual instances,  although  there  are  hundreds  of 
heart-breaking  cases,  but  it  may  be  remarked  that  the 
immigration  from  Jugoslavia  consists  largely  of  the 
relatives  of  Jugoslavs  already  resident  in  this  country 
who  are  coming  to  join  their  families  on  this  side. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  Dillingham  Act  is  faulty 
both  in  conception  and  in  practical  operation.  It  is 
one  of  those  sad  laws,  to  which  the  American  people 
are  so  prone,  that  look  so  well  on  paper  and  work  so 
badly  in  fact.  It  is  another  example  of  rushing  into 
over  hasty  legislation,  and  of  legislating  through  preju- 
dice rather  than  through  common  sense.  It  is  certainly 
true  that  the  present  immigration  authorities  have 
done  all  that  they  could  to  alleviate  this  state  of 
affairs,  but  their  hands  have  been  tied  and  their  work 
reduced  to  chaos.  Under  less  able  men  the  situation 
would  have  been  worse;  under  the  present  law  it  could 
hardly  have  been  better.  One  step  could  and  should  be 
made:  The  steamship  companies  ought  to  be  brought 
into  line  and  forced,  if  they  are  unwilling  to  act  in  the 
matter  of  their  own  initiative,  to  cooperate  with  the 
Government  to  the  extent  of  at  least  allowing  the  law 
a  fair  trial.  They  could  do  this,  and  they  should  be 
made  to  do  it.  The  time  is  already  here  to  revise  this 
law  or  to  draft  an  entirely  new  one.  With  the  experi- 
ence we  have  gained  by  this  time,  it  should  not  be 
difficult  at  least  to  avoid  certain  pitfalls,  and  to  de- 
duce more  readily  the  presence  of  others.  Six  months 
have  passed  since  the  3  per  cent  restriction  law  was  put 
into  operation,  and  already  more  than  one-half  of  the 

135 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

quotas  of  the  various  nationalities,  quotas  intended 
to  cover  a  period  of  twelve  months,  have  been  ex- 
hausted. Yet  the  only  interest  Congress  is  showing  in 
the  matter  is  a  desire  to  restrict  still  further.  We  are 
in  the  process  of  throwing  the  handle  after  the  ax. 

December,  1921. 


136 


XIII 
WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 


A  RE  the  many  immigrants  of  diverse  creeds  and 
r-\  nationalities,  who  come  to  us  daily,  really  wel- 
come? Opinions  differ.  Well,  then,  since  we 
permit,  since  we  even  ask  them  to  come,  are  they  made 
to  feel  welcome?  Are  they  in  fact  welcomed  by  us? 
Opinions  will  not  differ  here  among  those  who  are  in 
any  degree  informed.  It  is  easy  to  learn  that  the 
paucity  of  welcome  afforded  the  immigrant  has  not 
only  made  the  problem  of  so-called  Americanization 
an  enormously  complex  and  difficult  one,  but  that  it 
has  even  aroused  bitter  resentment  and  open  criticism 
of  us  in  those  governments  which  these  same  immi- 
grants will  soon  be  asked  to  forswear  for  our  own.  At 
the  very  outset  it  may  be  stated  that  the  absurd  Dilling- 
ham Act,  the  3  per  cent  restriction  law,  has  sufficed  to 
bring  this  matter  to  a  head.  So  far  as  it  is  possible 
to  ascertain,  this  is  the  only  good  purpose  it  has  so 
far  achieved. 

A  committee  of  six  persons  has  been  appointed  to 
investigate  the  present  conditions  at  our  ports  of  entry, 
and  to  make  recommendations  for  the  betterment  of 
these  conditions.  The  committee  was  appointed  by 
our  new  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration,  W.  W. 
Husband,  one  of  the  most  able  men  who  has  ever  filled 
the  post,  and  the  personnel  of  the  committee  is  ex- 
cellent, consisting  as  it  does  of  Miss  Julia  Lathrop, 

137 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Mrs.  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Mr.  Frederick  Croxton,  Mr. 
Charles  Neill,  Miss  Lola  Lasker,  and  Mr.  W.  W. 
Sibray.  If  this  committee  cannot  get  results,  we  may 
as  well  make  up  our  minds  to  get  along  as  best  we  can 
in  the  same  old  messy  way  we  have  been  doing. 

So  far  the  Committee  has  investigated  Ellis  Island 
and  has  made  its  recommendations,  which  are  as 
follows: 

"The  appointment  of  an  official  Director  of  Informa- 
tion, who,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the  Com- 
missioner, shall  have  complete  charge  of  all  welfare 
work  at  the  Island.  Ample  financial  provision  has 
been  made  for  this  service. 

'The  appointment  of  interpreters,  speaking  several 
languages  and  having  training  in  social  work,  for 
service  among  immigrants  awaiting  inspection,  during 
which  time,  for  obvious  reasons,  they  are  not  allowed 
to  communicate  directly  with  friends. 

*The  development  of  a  plan  for  the  systematic  in- 
terchange of  permissible  information  between  detained 
immigrants  and  their  waiting  friends,  and  for  keeping 
families  advised  as  to  the  condition  of  members  who 
may  be  in  the  hospital. 

"That  separate  and  greatly  improved  day  and  night 
quarters  be  provided  for  women  with  young  children, 
with  a  trained  dietitian  in  charge  of  children's  feeding. 

'The  representatives  of  private  welfare  authorized 
to  work  at  the  Station  may,  under  the  direction  and 
supervision  of  the  official  Director  of  Immigration, 
assist  in  general  welfare  work  among  immigrants  after 
they  are  duly  examined. 

'That  three  separate  religious  services — Catholic, 
Jewish,  and  Protestant — shall  be  held  on  Sundays,  with 
occasional  services  for  other  groups,  if  needed. 

"That  when  aliens  are  debarred  and  deported  the 
reason  therefor  shall  be  explained  to  them  and,  when 
practicable,  to  interested  relatives  or  friends. 

138 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

"That  some  welfare  workers  shall  be  on  duty  at  all 
hours,  rather  than  during  the  day  only,  as  at  present. 

"At  the  present  time  no  organized  information  or 
welfare  service  is  available  to  arriving  immigrants  until 
their  examination  is  completed,  and  if  they  are  held 
for  examination  by  boards  of  special  inquiry  it  is 
frequently  necessary  to  detain  them  for  several  weeks 
apart  from  the  public.  Under  the  new  plan  official 
interpreters  will  meet  arriving  aliens  when  they  em- 
bark from  the  ships  to  the  barges  which  convey  them 
to  Ellis  Island,  and  information  service  will  be  avail- 
able during  the  entire  period  of  their  detention  at  the 
Island. 

"In  the  past,  immigrants  coming  to  the  Island  from 
ships  have  been  detained  in  the  barge  which  brought 
them,  pending  medical  inspection,  but  under  the  new 
arrangement  they  are  taken  from  the  barge  to  com- 
modius  and  comfortable  receiving  rooms  in  the  main 
immigration  building  while  awaiting  medical  examina- 
tion. Official  interpreters  will  also  be  on  duty  in  the 
receiving  rooms.  Formerly,  milk  and  crackers  were 
provided  only  to  small  children,  but  are  now  served  to 
all  women  and  children  in  the  dining-room  at  meals, 
and  in  the  detention  quarters  between  meals,  and  at 
bedtime.  A  night  steward  has  been  added  to  the  com- 
missary force  to  supervise  this  service. 

"Through  a  rearrangement  of  space,  the  large  room 
on  the  ground  floor  of  the  main  building,  now  used  as 
a  railway  ticket  office  and  money  exchange,  will  be 
utilized  as  a  day  room  for  detained  women  with  chil- 
dren. The  room  will  be  equipped  with  conveniences 
for  the  care  of  children,  and  both  mothers  and  chil- 
dren will  have  easy  access  to  the  recreation  ground, 
which  will  be  equipped  as  a  playground.  Other  large 
outside  rooms  adjacent  to  extensive  porches  overlook- 
ing the  bay  will  be  available  as  day  rooms  for  other 
immigrants,  so  that  all  who  are  detained  for  any 
length  of  time  will  have  comfortable  and  pleasant  day 
quarters,  with  access  to  out-of-door  recreation  spaces. 

139 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

A  large  outside  room  is  to  be  equipped  as  a  dormitory 
for  women  and  children,  who  are  now  obliged  to  occupy 
the  general  dormitories  in  which  all  immigrants  sleep. 
When  the  plan  outlined  has  been  put  into  effect  the 
conditions  under  which  immigrants  are  detained  at 
Ellis  Island  will  be  immeasureably  improved." 

So  far  as  they  go,  these  recommendations  are  ex- 
cellent. It  remains  to  be  seen  how  they  will  work  out 
in  actual  practice.  Certainly  they  show  a  sympathetic 
understanding  of  the  situation,  and  equally  certainly 
they  will  alleviate  present  conditions.  I  cannot, 
however,  consider  them  as  more  than  a  momentary 
panacea.  They  are  not  wide  enough  in  scope  or  in- 
tensive enough  in  character  to  be  considered  in  any 
wise  as  a  permanent  solution  of  the  difficulty.  In 
spite  of  this,  we  must  regard  them  with  gratitude,  for 
they  are  a  very  distinct  step  in  advance. 

The  average  person  east  of  the  Rockies  thinks  of 
immigration  almost  wholly  in  terms  of  Ellis  Island. 
This  port  of  entry,  which  the  immigrant  has  aptly 
characterized  as  "The  Island  of  Tears,"  has  become, 
in  the  popular  mind,  symbolic  of  immigration  as  a 
whole.  Ellis  Island  is  indeed  the  largest  of  oyr  ports 
of  entry,  and,  it  may  not  be  too  much  to  say,  the 
worst.  The  Island  is  too  small  to  do  the  work  assigned 
to  it.  Its  machinery  is  superannuated.  This  is  the 
fault  of  Congress,  which  has  failed  to  appropriate 
adequate  sums  for  the  immigration  service,  just  as  it 
is  the  fault  of  Congress  that  this  whole  service,  from 
the  Commissioner  General  down,  is  woefully  under- 
paid. Nevertheless,  one  must  go  as  far  as  one  can  with 
what  one  has.  There  is  a  new  Commissioner  at  Ellis 
Island,   Mr.   Robert   Tod,    and   there   is   at   present 

140 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

reason  to  believe  that  under  his  administration  some 
of  the  general  inefficiency  and  petty  evils  which  ex- 
isted under  ex-Commissioner  Wallis  will  have  short 
shrift.  Commissioner  Tod  gives  us  reason  to  hope; 
he  has  yet  to  be  proven. 

To  consider  immigration  simply  in  terms  of  the  ports 
of  entry  is  obviously  an  error.  That  is  merely  the 
climatic  point  in  the  immigrant's  travail.  There  is 
much  to  be  done  at  these  ports,  or  more  specifically 
at  Ellis  Island,  but  there  is  more  to  be  done  elsewhere; 
for  at  the  port  of  entry  it  is  largely  a  matter  of  read- 
justing and  reassembling  already  existing  machinery, 
while  at  the  other  stages  of  the  journey,  from  the  point 
of  departure  in  Europe  to  the  point  of  arrival  in  the 
United  States,  there  is  practically  no  machinery  at  all ; 
so  that  whatever  is  needed  will  have  to  be  created. 
But  in  any  event,  taking  Ellis  Island,  which  is  notorious 
because  the  sore  has  come  to  a  head  there,  as  a  start- 
ing point,  what  do  we  find? 

There  are  two  general  faults,  one  capable  of  imme- 
diate correction,  the  other  capable  of  correction  only 
through  legislation  and  the  appropriation  of  funds. 
The  first  of  these  faults  lies  in  the  fact  that  not  a  few 
of  the  employees  at  the  Island  have  become,  not 
unnaturally,  case-hardened;  that  is,  their  sensibilities 
have  become  so  deadened  that  their  point  of  view  on 
the  immigrant  is  not  unlike  that  of  a  drover  on  his 
herd.  The  immigrants  are  nothing  but  units  which 
go  to  make  up  the  task  of  him  who  has  to  deal  with 
them.  In  consequence  we  find  that  discourtesy  is 
rampant,  and  that  even  brutality  on  occasion  is  far 
from  absent.  Remember,  I  am  speaking  of  the  Island 
as  it  has  been  up  to  now.     What  changes  the  new 

141 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

administration  will  make  are  yet  to  be  seen.  Espe- 
cially of  late  long  stories  of  mistreatment  of  immi- 
grants have  been  given  to  the  press  and  have  been 
spread  broadcast.  That  they  are  exaggerated  is  prob- 
able, but  that  they  have  a  basis  of  truth  is  undeniable. 
The  immigrant  at  the  port  of  entry  is  in  a  peculiar 
position:  he  does  not  know  what  is  going  to  happen 
to  him;  he  cannot  understand  the  language  of  the 
country.  His  situation  is  of  the  most  vital  conse- 
quence to  him.  He  has  cut  loose  from  all  his  old  ties; 
he  has  sold  out  his  home  and  his  belongings,  and  he  is 
prepared  to  start  life  anew.  It  is  literally  quite  as 
important  for  him  as  a  major  operation,  and  it  is 
certainly  highly  to  be  desired  that  the  immigration 
officials  treat  him  with  the  same  consideration  that  the 
doctors  and  nurses  would  use  if  he  were  going  under 
the  knife.  In  both  instances  an  important  step  is  to 
be  made;  in  the  one  instance  he  hazards  his  life,  and 
in  the  other  his  career.  The  truth  is  that  at  the  port 
of  entry  he  is  quite  likely  to  be  treated  as  a  suspect. 
He  is  spoken  to  roughly,  sometimes  even  handled 
roughly.  He  is  denied  rights  and  conveniences,  not 
because  there  is  any  reason  in  such  denial,  but  because 
it  would  be  too  much  trouble  to  see  that  he  got  them. 
Nine  times  out  of  ten  he  is  finally  spewed  forth  from 
the  Island  frightened  and  bewildered,  ready  to  fall  a 
victim  to  the  first  of  the  multitude  of  land  sharks 
lying  in  wait  for  him.  The  only  thing  really  necessary 
to  remedy  this  condition  is  a  change  in  point  of  view, 
and  that  change  we  have  a  right  to  expect,  or,  if  it  is 
not  at  once  forthcoming,  to  demand.  Employees 
must  be  courteous  at  all  times.  If  an  immigrant 
wantonly  violates  any  law,  he  can  be  punished.    Other- 

142 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

wise,  he  has  the  same  right  to  expect  absolute  courtesy 
and  consideration  in  his  trying  position  from  a  Govern- 
ment employee  as  has  any  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
The  other  fault  is,  as  I  implied,  more  difficult  to 
correct.  The  fault  is  that  of  acute  congestion.  Ellis 
Island  was  an  ideal  place  for  a  port  of  entry  in  the  days 
when  it  was  first  established  as  such.  To-day,  how- 
ever, it  is  too  small  to  care  for  the  body  of  immigration 
which  passes  through  it.  Even  during  normal  times 
some  of  the  detention  rooms  are  badly  overcrowded, 
and  time  and  again  the  hospital  accommodations  have 
proved  inadequate.  In  some  of  the  detention  rooms 
there  is  not  space  to  sit  down;  in  the  hospital  there  are 
not  always  enough  beds.  This  is  not  always  so,  but 
it  is  so  often  enough  to  make  it  constitute  a  grave  flaw. 
On  what  was  known  as  a  * 'slack  day'*  I  have  seen  the 
women  in  a  detention  room  standing  packed  together, 
many  with  babies  at  their  breasts,  ready  to  faint  from 
weakness  and  fatigue.  They  could  not  sit;  they  had 
nowhere  to  rest  their  babies.  And  all  in  amongst 
them  ran  a  little  man  with  a  fixed  and  beaming  smile 
and  an  armful  of  tracts.  He  would  stick  a  tract  wher- 
ever it  would  hold,  sometimes  between  the  mother  and 
the  child  in  her  arms.  Rest  there  was  none;  help  there 
was  none;  there  were  only  tracts.  That  was  their 
welcome.  Of  course  the  little  man  and  his  little  tracts 
were  not  a  part  of  the  congestion,  but  they  were  a 
result  of  it  in  a  sense.  It  is  difficult  to  treat  people 
other  than  as  cattle  when  conditions  are  such  that 
they  are  herded  as  cattle.  If  this  congestion  were  re- 
lieved it  would  go  a  long  way  toward  remedying  fault 
number  one.  It  makes  the  situation  as  frenziedly 
difficult  for  the  immigration  officials  as  it  does  impos- 

143 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

sible  for  the  immigrants  themselves.  But  this  conges- 
tion can  finally  be  relieved  only  by  legislation;  Congress 
must  appropriate  money  for  more  space  and  more 
buildings.  And,  as  the  British  "Tommies"  used  to 
say  in  191 8,  "Wot  'opes!"  As  it  stands  at  present, 
however,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  a  more  active 
cooperation  on  the  part  of  some  steamship  companies 
might  help  matters. 

Aside,  however,  from  specific  conditions  and  rem- 
edies, what  can  be  set  down  as  a  broad  and  general 
outline  for  the  care  of  immigrants  from  the  point  of 
initial  departure  to  that  of  ultimate  destination? 
Parenthetically  I  may  observe  that  I  am  assuming  the 
realization  on  the  part  of  the  reader  that  the  welfare 
of  our  immigrants  is  a  matter  which  vitally  concerns 
the  welfare  of  our  country  as  a  whole,  and  not  some- 
thing that  begins  and  ends  with  the  immigrant  him- 
self. We  realize  to-day  the  essential  importance  of 
pre-natal  infancy  regulations.  It  is  hardly  less  im- 
portant that  our  future  citizens  receive  intelligent  and 
sympathetic  attention  in  their  pre-natal  state. 

There  are  four  steps  in  the  journey  of  the  immigrant. 
First,  from  his  home  to  the  port  of  departure;  second, 
in  transit  across  the  sea;  third,  at  the  port  of  entry  or 
arrival;  fourth,  from  the  port  of  entry  to  his  destina- 
tion in  the  United  States.  Properly  conceived,  it 
should  be  our  endeavor  to  touch  the  immigrant  at  all 
of  these  four  points,  preparing  him  for  each  as  he 
reaches  it  until  finally,  at  his  place  of  residence  in  this 
country,  he  will  be  in  a  position  to  take  the  next  step 
of  beginning  to  function  as  a  part  of  the  community 
life  about  him,  and  so  from  there  to  the  national  life 
or  citizenship. 

144 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

The  service  necessary  to  the  immigrant  consists 
actually  in  seeing  that  he  is  provided  with  such  con- 
crete information  on  matters  pertaining  to  his  welfare 
that  he  is  able  to  look  after  himself.  At  present  he  is 
obliged  either  to  proceed  blindly  or  to  trust  sources 
which  are  themselves  uninformed  or  sometimes  un- 
trustworthy. 

II 

Prior  to  his  arrival  in  the  United  States — that  is, 
through  the  first  two  stages  of  his  journey — it  would 
seem  feasible  to  distribute  the  information  necessary 
to  immigrants  somewhat  as  follows:  Government  in- 
formation on  the  immigration  laws  of  the  United 
States,  on  all  immigration  requirements,  on  necessary 
procedure  at  the  ports  of  entry,  and  on  all  other  laws 
and  regulations  affecting  the  immigrant  could  be  sent 
regularly  to  the  foreign  press  for  publication;  and  these 
releases  could  at  the  same  time  be  sent  to  all  foreign 
social  agencies  and  organizations  and  to  the  offices  of 
consuls.  Provided  the  information  were  adequate  (and 
there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be),  this  would 
pretty  well  cover  the  ground  up  to  the  time  of  sailing. 
All  steamship  companies  should  be  provided  with  a 
supply  of  the  same  informational  material,  to  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  immigrants  in  transit.  This  informa- 
tion should  be  only  of  a  governmental  and  official 
character,  giving  fully  and  explicitly  the  laws  and 
regulations  governing  immigration  and  affecting  the 
arrival  of  the  foreigner,  but  in  no  event  containing  any 
comment  whatsoever  on  the  advisability  or  inadvisa- 
bility  of  coming  to  America,  of  locating  in  any  partic- 
ular portion  of  the  country,  or  of  conditions  here,  either 

145 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

social,  political,  or  industrial.  It  is  of  vital  consequence 
that  not  the  slightest  propaganda  creep  into  this  work. 
If  official  information  of  this  type  were  available  to 
emigrants  from  foreign  countries  before  they  sailed, 
innumerable  non-admissible  cases  would  be  prevented 
entirely  from  coming,  and  the  heavy  deportation 
problems  at  the  ports  of  entry,  along  with  the  conges- 
tion these  entail,  would  be  greatly  minimized.  Inci- 
dentally, it  would  save  many  immigrants  untold 
suffering.  Likewise,  those  who  are  admissible  would 
learn  either  before  sailing  or  on  shipboard  the  pro- 
cedure and  requirements  of  the  ports  of  entry,  and 
thus  the  work  of  inspection  at  these  ports  would  be 
greatly  facilitated  and  hastened.  Again,  the  immi- 
grant would  be  saved  much  very  real  agony.  This 
does  not  sound  difficult,  and  indeed  it  is  not,  yet  it 
would  go  quite  a  way  toward  clearing  up  the  whole 
situation. 

Then  at  the  ports  of  entry  themselves.  That  is  a 
little  more  complicated  perhaps,  but  by  no  means  of 
insuperable  difficulty.  At  the  ports  of  entry  immi- 
grants fall  into  three  classes:  Those  who  pass  the  in- 
spectors and  are  allowed  to  enter;  those  who  are  tem- 
porarily detained ;  and  those  detained  for  deportation. 

Immigrants  who  are  temporarily  detained  suffer 
endless  and  needless  mental  anxiety  through  their 
entire  ignorance  of  what  is  happening  to  them  and 
why.  Their  relatives  or  friends  may  have  failed  to 
meet  them;  they  may  have  no  idea  how  to  communi- 
cate with  these  relatives  and  friends,  and  there  may 
well  be  difficulties  about  their  transportation  to  their 
final  destination  in  this  country.  Shyster  lawyers  and 
crooks  of  various  kinds  are  quick  to  take  advantage 

146 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

of  this  ignorance  and  consequent  panic,  and  to  extort 
large  sums  from  the  immigrants  or  their  relatives,  or 
from  both,  for  what  is  usually  worthless  "legal" 
advice. 

In  like  manner  those  immigrants  who  comprise  the 
admissible  class  lack  equally  with  the  others  any 
knowledge  of  the  immigration  laws,  of  immigration 
inspection  procedure,  and  of  those  laws  and  oppor- 
tunities of  the  country  which  affect  them  most  nearly. 
In  leaving  Ellis  Island  these  immigrants  are  subject 
to  endless  exploitation  from  various  agencies — rooming- 
house  keepers,  money  changers,  ticket  agents,  private 
bankers,  labor  speculators,  and  others.  The  most 
exorbitant  prices  are  charged  for  the  most  trivial  serv- 
ces,  such  as  directing  or  conducting  them  to  various 
places,  writing  to  relatives,  or  taking  them  to  trains. 
These  immigrants  have  no  knowledge  of  where  to 
apply  for  disinterested  assistance  or  information;  their 
experience  with  this  country  becomes,  immediately 
upon  entering  it,  one  of  being  cheated,  given  bad 
counsel,  preyed  upon,  and  left  in  hopeless  loneliness 
and  isolation. 

This  last  group,  the  admissible  immigrants,  is  by 
far  the  largest,  and  the  service  to  be  rendered  them 
would  probably  outline  itself  much  as  follows.  They 
should  be  given  explicit  information  on  all  matters  of 
immediate  concern,  such  as  transportation,  exchange 
of  money,  locating  relatives,  and  any  other  individual 
problems  more  or  less  necessarily  attendant  upon  their 
arrival  and  entry.  Some  of  these  immigrants  will 
have  transportation  to  a  definite  place,  and  for  them 
the  information  service  on  immediate  problems  would 
not   be  heavily   burdened.     Others,   however,   whose 

147 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

relatives  have  not  met  them,  or  who  are  in  further 
need  of  help  with  transportation,  temporary  rooming 
places,  or  what-not,  should  be  given  whatever  advice 
or  assistance  is  necessary  for  their  welfare.  Further 
than  this,  information  in  the  form  of  leaflets  on  the 
laws  of  this  country,  its  opportunities  (citizenship, 
health,  education,  land)  should  be  furnished  all  in- 
coming immigrants.  Here  again  the  danger  of  prop- 
aganda would  have  to  be  guarded  against,  and  the 
information  would  have  to  be  strictly  governmental  in 
character. 

For  the  immigrants  who  are  temporarily  detained, 
the  service  should  consist  largely  in  helping  to  locate 
relatives,  in  handling  or  in  referring  to  the  proper 
agency  the  particular  problems  of  individuals,  and  in 
seeing  that  the  immigrant  is  fully  and  explicitly  in- 
formed of  his  position,  his  rights  and  obligations  under 
the  law,  and  in  helping  him  obtain,  if  necessary,  proper 
legal  counsel. 

For  those  held  for  deportation  little  can  be  done 
except  to  see  again  that  these  are  fully  and  explicitly 
informed  of  their  legal  rights  and  obligations,  to  help 
them  engage  proper  counsel,  if  necessary,  and  to  make 
sure  that  opportunity  for  appeal  to  Washington  be 
given  them. 

So  far  as  the  ports  of  entry  are  concerned,  that  is 
about  as  far  as  we  can  hope  to  go  at  present.  It  is  not 
a  difficult  step,  but  it  is  a  long  one  in  that  it  is  miles 
ahead  of  the  present  condition  prevailing.  Such  serv- 
ice would  enormously  relieve  both  the  immigration 
officials  and  the  immigrants  themselves.  It  would 
give  them  a  clean  start  and  a  clear  focus  on  their  new 
life,  and  in  this  way  would  be  of  inestimable  value  not 

148 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

only  to  themselves,  but  likewise  to  the  country  of 
which  one  day  they  may  become  an  integral  portion. 
It  makes  a  lot  of  difference  in  the  long  run  whether  an 
immigrant  gets  a  right  start  or  a  wrong  one.  If  the 
country  itself  starts  him  wrong  and  he  turns  out 
badly,  surely  it  is  the  country  that  is  at  least  in  part 
to  blame. 

The  last  step  in  the  immigrant's  journey,  from  the 
port  of  entry  to  his  ultimate  destination,  requires  very 
much  the  same  treatment  as  the  others.  And  right 
here  it  should  be  remarked  that  fully  95  per  cent  of 
the  immigrants  arriving  in  America  know  exactly 
where  they  are  going  to  go  first.  They  have  relatives 
or  friends  in  one  part  of  the  country  or  another,  and 
they  have  come  here  with  this  objective  point  well  in 
mind.  That  is  one  of  the  prime  reasons  why  a  forced 
economic  distribution  could  not  succeed,  even  though 
it  deserved  to — which  it  doesn't. 

Once  past  the  inspection  and  admitted,  his  money 
changed,  his  transportation  seen  to,  his  relatives  noti- 
fied, if  they  have  not  already  met  him,  and  any  further 
difficulties  cleared  away,  the  immigrant  is  ready  to 
proceed.  The  Ellis  Island  officials  should  then  notify 
their  representatives  at  the  point  of  destination  of  the 
number,  the  nationality,  and,  if  possible,  the  names  of 
those  who  will  arrive,  in  order  that  local  follow-up 
work  may  be  facilitated.  On  his  arrival  the  immigrant 
should  be  furnished  with  leaflets,  giving  official  gov- 
ernmental information  on  citizenship,  health,  educa- 
tion, farming,  and  like  matters  of  material  concern, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  must  be  supplied  with  data  in 
his  own  language,  as  indeed  all  this  information  must 
be,  on  local  matters,  such  as  housing,  health,  fire  reg- 

149 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

ulations,  schools,  medical  assistance,  and  recreational 
and  cultural  opportunities.  In  this  way,  and  only  in 
this  way,  will  the  immigrant  be  given  a  fair  chance 
from  the  outset  of  taking  his  place  in  the  community 
life  and  of  functioning  normally  with  it.  In  this  work 
the  foreign-language  societies,  organizations,  churches, 
and  individual  leaders  must  be  invited  to  cooperate. 
They  understand  the  needs  of  their  people  as  does  no 
one  else.  Indeed  the  active  cooperation  of  these 
elements  is  of  imperative  necessity.  There  must  be  no 
thought  that  they  will  help  to  isolate  their  countrymen 
from  American  life.  In  fact,  they  afford  the  essential 
stepping-stone  by  means  of  which  the  gap  between  the 
old  world  and  the  new  may  be  bridged.  Without  them, 
there  will  be  endless  misunderstanding  and  consequent 
trouble;  with  them,  there  is  at  least  double  the  chance 
of  success. 

And  here  it  seems  as  if  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of 
Immigration  must  cease,  if  indeed  it  ever  gets  so  far. 
From  here  on  it  will  be  up  to  the  Division  of  Citizen- 
ship, the  Bureau  of  Education,  and  local  agencies  to 
see  that  the  work  once  started  does  not  end  and  the 
immigrant  sink  back  into  isolation.  In  all  this  work, 
through  every  stage  of  it,  there  will  be  a  constant  fight 
to  keep  the  propagandists  at  arm's  length.  The  anti- 
radicals,  and  indeed  the  radicals  themselves,  the  in- 
dustrial interests,  the  political  and  the  religious  in- 
terests— all  these  and  more  will  try  their  turn  at  making 
the  immigrant  serve  their  private  ends.  If  they  are 
permitted  to  get  a  foothold,  then  good-bye  to  con- 
structive endeavor.  What  the  immigrant  needs  is 
information — information  in  his  own  language;  in- 
formation without  bias;  information  that  is  complete 

150 


WELCOME  TO  OUR  COUNTRY 

and  that  is  easily  understandable,  that  touches  every 
phase  of  his  life  in  this  country,  and  that  adequately 
covers  every  phase.  It  is  by  no  manner  of  means  im- 
possible. Indeed,  a  year  from  now  it  might  well  be  in 
working  order. 

January,  1922. 


151 


XIV 
SUMMARY 

THAT  many  passages  in  these  studies  will  seem 
dogmatic  I  have  no  doubt,  unfortunate  as  it 
may  be  to  have  them  so,  but  I  desire  to  be  ac- 
quitted not  only  of  any  intention  to  dogmatize,  but 
still  more  of  any  wish  on  my  part  to  be  pedantic.  It  is 
often  necessary  to  restate  old  dogmas,  but  for  the 
pedant  there  is  no  excuse.  Therefore,  if  my  manner 
ever  appears  to  the  reader  to  be  that  of  the  school- 
room or  the  lecture  platform,  I  beg  to  proffer  my  most 
sincere  apologies  in  advance,  or  not,  as  the  case  may 
be.  Occasionally,  in  the  effort  to  be  lucid  one  is  merely 
trite,  and  in  the  desire  to  be  forceful,  a  certain  nagging 
or  scolding  quality  is  observed.  These  things  are  to 
be  regretted,  and,  I  hope,  to  be  pardoned  likewise. 
It  should  be  clear  by  this  time  what  Americaniza- 
tion is  and  is  not.  It  is  not  negative;  that  is,  it  is  not 
Anti  anything.  It  must  be  positive  and  constructive, 
if  it  is  to  exist  at  all.  It  is  a  much  more  vital  and 
fundamental  matter  than  any  popular  foible  of  the 
moment.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  creed  or  of  party.  It 
has  no  connection  with  those  strange  and  ill-defined 
terms  "radical"  and  "conservative."  Americanism  in 
the  pure,  traditional,  historic  sense  is  more  apt  to 
be  considered  radical  than  conservative  to-day.  So 
far  as  the  intrinsic  value  of  such  Americanism  is  con- 
cerned, this  means  nothing.  Literally,  I  have  no  doubt 
but  that  Thomas  Jefferson,  Patrick  Henry,  and  others 

152 


SUMMARY 

of  our  early  patriots  would  be  incarcerated  in  jail, 
probably  held  incommunicado,  if  they  were  now 
alive.  Within  the  last  ten  years  men  have  been  ar- 
rested for  distributing  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
on  the  streets  of  New  York.  Certainly  this  puts  the 
person  interested  in  Americanization  in  something  of 
a  predicament.  How  is  he  to  reconcile  this  with  what 
he  is  supposed  to  teach  ?  Or,  must  he  teach  something 
different?  Is  it  to  be  rather  a  question  of  expediency 
than  of  principle  with  him?  Many  have  succumbed, 
and  in  their  effort  to  satisfy  everyone  have  satisfied 
no  one.  They  have  become  hopelessly  entangled  in 
the  mesh  of  their  own  sophistries.  That  pseudo- 
Americanism  from  which  the  country  is  suffering  to-day 
is  only  a  by-product  of  the  times.  The  Americanism 
upon  which  this  nation  was  builded  is  the  only  soil 
in  which  our  democracy  can  take  root  and  flourish. 
To  deny  it,  to  abrogate  it,  is  to  uproot  the  tree. 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  Americanization.  It  is  not 
simply  a  matter  of  learning  English  or  of  becoming 
naturalized.  These  things  are  only  milestones  on  the 
road;  they  are  not  the  goal  itself.  Certainly  they  are 
not  the  end;  hardly  even  are  they  the  means  to  the 
end.  For  Americanism  is  not  a  thing;  it  is  not  a  matter 
of  material  expression.  It  is  a  point  of  view,  an  atti- 
tude of  mind.  The  whole  problem  of  Americanization  is 
to  define  this  point  of  view,  and  to  so  deal  with  the  immi- 
grant that  once  it  is  defined  he  can  attain  it  if  he  chooses. 
It  cannot  be  forced  upon  him.  If  he  once  clearly  under- 
stands the  mental  and  spiritual  attitude  which  in  its 
time  begat  America,  and  still  does  not  believe  in  it 
wholly  and  sincerely,  that  is  his  privilege.  It  may  be 
his  misfortune  and  it  may  be  ours,  but  it  is  not  for  us 

153 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

to  criticize.     Far  better  a  sincere  alien  than  a  half- 
convinced  American. 

Americanism  cannot  be  taught;  it  must  be  experi- 
enced. Who  is  there  in  this  country  to-day  so  bold  as 
to  say  to  the  foreign  born  "/  will  teach  you  to  be  an 
American"?  Unfortunately  there  are  many  who  have 
the  temerity  to  assume  this  role,  but  the  foreign  born 
have  already  learned  that  most  of  them  are  false 
prophets.  To  learn  Americanism  the  immigrant  must 
become,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  him,  an  active  part 
of  America.  This  does  not  mean  simply  that  he  must 
be  naturalized.  There  are  far  too  many  natives  of 
this  country  whose  only  virtue  lies  in  the  fact  that  they 
were  born  here.  The  wedding  ceremony  is  merely 
incidental  to  the  fact  of  marriage;  it  is  only  a  ritual 
which  symbolizes  a  certain  point  of  view,  a  definite 
attitude  of  mind,  without  which  it  is  not  a  sacrament 
but  a  sacrilege.  It  is  the  same  with  naturalization. 
Is  a  wife  more  important  than  a  nation,  or  marriage 
than  citizenship?  And  to  carry  the  parallel  still  fur- 
ther, before  marriage  it  is  necessary  that  mutual  trust, 
sympathy,  and  agreement  be  realized  by  both  parties. 
They  must  understand  each  other,  and  therefore  they 
must  speak  the  same  language.  The  language  is  im- 
portant only  as  a  means  to  an  end;  it  has  no  signifi- 
cance in  itself.  All  these  things  are  as  true  of  citizen- 
ship as  they  are  of  marriage.  The  same  primary 
elements  characterize  both — emotion,  intellect,  and 
sentiment.  I  do  not  by  any  means  intend  to  point 
to  marriage  as  it  exists  to-day  as  an  ideal  state,  but 
surely  allegiance  to  an  individual  is  no  more  important 
than  allegiance  to  a  nation.  The  cry  in  the  old  days 
of  chivalry  was  "For  God,  for  Country,  and  for  my 

154 


SUMMARY 

Lady."  To-day  one  cannot  but  gather  the  impression, 
however  exaggerated  it  may  be,  that  one  is  loyal  to 
God  once  a  week,  to  the  Country  once  in  four  years, 
and  to  one's  Lady  merely  on  occasion.  But  I  fear  this 
is  frivolous.  The  fact  I  wish  to  point  out  is  only  that 
citizenship  is  actually  no  less  sacred  than  marriage, 
and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  no  more  so. 

The  native-born  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
any  other  country,  is  partially  restricted  by  natural 
handicaps  from  that  complete  realization  of  his  cit- 
izenship which  is  so  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the 
nation.  That  is,  his  natural,  inevitable  tendency  is  to 
take  everything  for  granted.  He  finds  that  if  he  goes 
about  his  personal  business,  his  political  affairs  are 
taken  care  of  for  him.  He  becomes  politically  selfish 
and  lazy,  and  when  he  is  awakened  to  the  sad  results 
of  his  neglect  he  is  apt  to  be  merely  cynical.  It  is 
immesely  difficult  for  him  to  maintain  an  objective 
point  of  view  on  the  situation  and  an  attitude  un- 
colored  by  personal  aims  and  ambitions.  He  takes 
his  opinions  from  the  newspapers  not  because  he  con- 
siders the  press  a  particularly  reliable  source  of  informa- 
tion, but  simply  because  he  is  too  selfish  and  too  lazy 
to  make  the  effort  to  find  out  the  truth  for  himself. 
The  result  of  all  this  is  highly  disastrous.  Citizenship 
becomes  a  matter  of  mechanics.  It  is  natural,  therefore, 
that  the  native-born  citizen  should  wish  to  run  the 
immigrant  through  the  machine.  Make  him  a  legal 
citizen  and  forget  him  again.  Force  him  to  conform 
to  the  popular  trend,  and  he  can  be  dealt  with  as  the 
rest  are.  The  swine  of  Circe  were  made  exceedingly 
uncomfortable  by  being  reminded  that  actually  they 
ought  to  be  men.     They  would  have  suffered  far  less 

155 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

had  they  been  permitted  to  retain  the  mental  attitude 
of  swine.  That  is  the  case  with  us  in  America  to-day. 
We  intensely  resent  being  reminded  of  the  fact 
that  politically  we  are  swine.  The  immigrant  was  not 
born  a  citizen;  he  cannot  take  his  citizenship  for 
granted.  He  desires,  if  he  desires  at  all,  to  become  a 
citizen  for  certain  definite  reasons — because  our  system 
of  government  appeals  to  him;  because  we  offer  him 
certain  advantages  political,  social,  or  industrial  which 
he  has  not  had.  His  point  of  view  is  entirely  objective. 
Actually,  that  is  where  the  clash  comes.  The  immigrant 
is  more  intelligent  about  his  citizenship  than  the 
native  born  is  about  his.  The  native  born  has  let  the 
reins  of  government  slip  from  his  hands,  and  he  is,  for 
the  most  part,  content  to  accept  the  consequences, 
rather  than  rouse  from  the  pleasant  apathy  into  which 
he  has  fallen.  He  has  been  cheated  of  his  birthright, 
but  he  does  not  want  to  have  to  realize  it  for  fear  that 
he  will  be  forced  to  bestir  himself.  The  potential  cit- 
izen, the  immigrant,  sees  that  these  things  are  so,  and 
because  his  desire  for  citizenship  rests  largely  on  those 
very  rights  which  the  native  born  has  abrogated  through 
sheer  inertia,  he  protests,  he  makes  an  effort  to  re- 
capture that  democratic  ideal  which  we  have  not  had 
the  moral  stamina  to  keep  intact.  Not  unnaturally 
we  resent  this;  we  do  not  desire  to  be  roused  to  action. 
Likewise,  it  is  humiliating  to  have  foreigners  point  out 
to  us  our  political  duty.  In  our  resentment  we  attack 
the  foreigner,  because  by  so  doing  we  alleviate  the 
suffering  engendered  by  our  hurt  pride;  we  permit  a 
resumption  of  our  drugged  sleep  which  is  so  dear  to 
us,  and  we  obey  the  suggestions  of  those  to  whose 
interest  it  is  to  have  us  continue  to  slumber.  The 
American  likes  formula.     It  saves  him  mental  effort. 

156 


SUMMARY 

He  worships  catchwords  and  phrases.  They  save  him 
from  trying  to  think.  If  an  unusual  idea  is  presented 
to  him  clothed  in  the  familiar  garments  of  his  favorite 
jargon,  he  accepts  the  idea  readily,  because  the  famil- 
iarity of  the  clothing  reassures  him,  and  the  fact  that 
the  idea  is  unusual  leads  him  to  believe  that  he  is 
original,  a  superstition  which  is  intensely  dear  to  him. 
The  immigrant  comes  to  America  with  some  knowl- 
edge of  a  fundamental  set  of  political,  social,  and 
economic  principles  which  he  has  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve, perhaps  for  generations,  represent  American 
democracy.  That,  for  the  most  part,  is  his  stock  in 
trade  as  a  future  citizen.  The  laws,  conventions, 
usages,  and  traditions  of  the  country  are  usually  strange 
to  him,  as  is  its  language.  What  he  needs  is  not 
preventive  propaganda.  It  is  information.  He  must 
be  educated,  but  his  education  must  consist  in  inform- 
ing him  on  facts,  not  in  that  proselyting  process  which 
proceeds  from  bias,  either  political,  social,  or  industrial. 
He  must  be  given  the  facts  upon  which  he  can  form 
his  opinions;  there  must  be  no  attempt  to  form  his 
opinions  for  him.  The  path  must  be  cleared  for  him 
into  the  community  life  of  America;  he  must  not  be 
dragged  in  forcibly  to  occupy  the  position  of  a  stranger. 
His  initial  lack  of  information  will  often  lead  him  into 
trouble.  He  must  be  helped  out  of  his  difficulties  and 
matters  explained,  so  that  he  will  be  able  to  care  for 
himself  when  the  occasion  again  arises.  His  ignorance 
will  permit  him  to  be  preyed  upon  systematically. 
This  ignorance  must  be  cleared  away,  but  at  the  same 
time,  those  who  prey  upon  him  must  be  cleared  away 
likewise.  In  short,  the  immigrant  must  be  regarded 
not  as  a  Problem,  nor  as  mere  Man  Power,  nor  as  a 
"Wop,"    "Hunkie,"    "Dago,"    "Polak,"   or  what-not, 

^57 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

but  as  a  human  being  like  other  human  beings,  except 
for  the  fact  that  he  has  had  the  mental  and  moral 
vitality  to  want  something  enough  to  give  up  his  home 
and  travel  some  thousands  of  miles  to  get  it.  This 
spirit  was  that  which  brought  this  nation  into  being, 
and  it  is  one  to  be  encouraged.  The  ignorance  of  the 
immigrant  is  his  handicap.  This  ignorance  is  not 
mental  incapacity,  but  simply  lack  of  definite  informa- 
tion. He  must  be  informed  and,  furthermore,  he  must 
be  given  the  opportunity  to  inform  himself.  If  he 
seems  stupid  to  us  sometimes,  it  is  far  more  likely  to 
be  because  we  are  impatient ,  because  his  entire  psycho- 
logical background  is  so  different  from  ours,  than  be- 
cause his  stupidity  is  actual.  At  least  he  should  have 
the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  Once  his  ignorance  is  re- 
moved, once  he  is  informed  as  we  are,  once  he  is  given 
the  opportunity  to  expand  and  develop  in  the  American 
atmosphere,  he  will  then  become  a  part  of  American 
life  and  will  function  as  an  integral  portion  of  it.  It 
will  make  its  many  contributions  to  him,  but  he  will 
have  much  to  contribute  likewise.  It  is  a  process  of 
mutuality.  The  native  born  and  the  foreign  born 
must  each  contribute  their  share,  and  from  the  two 
America  will  be  reborn,  restrengthened,  and  renewed 
eternally.  Both  must  share,  both  must  give,  and  there 
can  be  neither  scorn  nor  distrust  between  them.  This 
condition  may  seem  ideal,  but  in  any  event  it  is  en- 
tirely practicable,  and  in  all  events  it  is  inevitable  if 
this  nation  is  ever  to  exist  as  a  unified  whole. 

As  for  naturalization,  citizenship  papers,  they  are 
only  important  as  a  symbol  of  the  spirit  behind  him 
who  gives  and  him  who  receives.  Make  that  spirit 
live  as  once  it  lived  in  America,  and  it  will  need  no 
paper  to  bear  it  witness. 

158 


On  Foreigners 

I  wonder  what  will  happen  to  this  land 

of  liberty. 
When  the  Dago  grabs  his  baggage  and 

returns  to  Italy; 
When  the  Teuton  takes  the  trouble  to         .  % 

recross  the  river  Rhine, 
And  the  Sheeny  picks  up  business  and 

removes  to  Palestine. 
I  wonder  what  will  happen  when  the 

Swede,  the  Finn,  the  Pole, 
And  a  dozen  other  races  will  no  longer 

dig  our  coal ; 
When  the  Russian   sails  to  Russia  to 

rejoin  the  Bolsheviks, 
And  old  Patrick  leaves  for  Ireland,  in 

spite  of  politics ; 
And  the  Greaser  goes  to  Mexico,  the 

swarthy  Greek  to  Greece. 
(I  wonder  whom  our  profiteers  will  pick 

upon  to  fleece.) 
I   wonder  whom  our  loyal    sons    will 

graciously  torment 
When  the  Nigger  m^kes  in  Africa  a 

Nigger  government ; 
When  the  Chink's  again  in  China,  and 

the  Jap  is  put  to  rout. 
And  all  the  "bloomin'  furriners"  witl 

once  for  all  ' ' git  out. 

Abraham  Shiffrin. 


159 


APPENDICES 


11 


APPENDIX  **A" 

I  have  felt  that  it  would  be  of  distinct  value  to  the 
reader  if  I  were  able  to  instance  a  concrete  example  of 
successful  Americanization  work  carried  through  on  a 
national  scale.  So  far  as  I  know,  there  is  only  one 
such  example  to  give,  and  that  is  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service.  There  are  other  national  organ- 
izations engaged  in  Americanization,  but  with  them, 
either  their  work  with  the  immigrant  is  incidental  to 
their  larger  purpose,  or,  as  I  have  indicated  in  Chapters 
X  and  XI,  their  purpose  itself  is  open  to  question. 
The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  occupies 
literally  a  unique  position,  acting  as  it  does  as  a  liaison 
between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  foreign 
born  of  America.  What  it  does,  how,  and  why  it  does 
it,  are  questions  which  will  all  be  answered  in  its  own 
statement,  an  abridged  version  of  which  I  have  ap- 
pended herewith.  Neither  the  motives  underlying  the 
work  of  this  Service  or  the  extraordinary  success  of  the 
work  itself  have  ever  seriously  been  called  into  question. 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  does  not 
by  any  means  solve  the  problem  of  Americanization. 
It  indicates  a  method  of  approach  and  points  out  the 
path  of  practicability.  The  press  work,  the  indi- 
vidual service  work  the  interpretative  work  the  foreign 
contacts,  the  work  with  foreign-language  organizations, 
the  educational  work,  the  direct  naturalization  field, 
all  these  are,  relatively  speaking,  hardly  more  than 
touched  upon  by  this  Service,  and  each  one  of  these 
sections  of  activity  is  in  itself  capable  of  'immense 
expansion  and  development. 

i6i 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  PAMPHLET  ENTITLED 

*The  Work  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service:  a  Summary  and  Survey" 

February,  1920,  to  May,  1921 

*To  interpret  America  to  the  Immigrant  and  the 
Immigrant  to  America." 

Staff 

Josephine  Roche Director 

Donald  W.  Lee Associate  Director 

Barrett  H.  Clark Associate  Director 

Edward  Hale  Bierstadt Associate  Director 

Washington  Office Mae  Simpson Manager 

American  Press  Section.  .  .Edward  Hale  Bierstadt.  .  .  .Manager 
Research  and  Reference 

Section Elsa  Cobb Manager 

Foreign-Language  Sections 

Czechoslovak Sarka  B.  Hrbkova Manager 

Danish Viggo  C.  Eberlin 

Dutch Arnold  v  C.  P.  Huizinga .... 

Finnish Antero  Riippa 

German Julius  Koettgen 

Hungarian Nicholas  N&dassy 

Italian Pasquale  de  Biasi 

Jewish Ellis  Ranen 

Jugoslav Ivan  Mladineo 

Lithuanian Mary  N.  Kizis 

Norwegian H.  Sunby-Hansen 

Polish K.  Wanda  Wojcieszak 

Russian Joseph  B.  Polonsky 

Swedish H.  Gude  Grinndal 

Ukrainian Nicholas  Ceglinsky 

The  Need  for  the  Service 

There  are  about  fourteen  milHon  foreign  born  in  the 
United  States.  While  there  are  no  exact  figures,  an 
estimate,  based  on  the  best  available  sources  of  informa- 
tion, indicates  that  at  least  three  million  of  these  can- 
not understand  or  speak  English,  while  another  three 
million  cannot  read  it. 

162 


APPENDIX  A 

These  millions  have  come  here  chiefly  because  of 
their  belief  in  the  ideals  of  freedom  and  equal  oppor- 
tunity which  brought  this  nation  into  being,  and  which 
will  always  be  in  themselves  the  first  element  of  Amer- 
icanism. The  newcomers  arrive  unequipped  with  that 
concrete  and  specific  information  which  is  a  prime 
necessity  for  them  if  they  are  to  be  able  to  cope  with 
conditions  with  which  they  are  unacquainted  and 
adjust  themselves  normally  to  their  new  life.  Fre- 
quently they  are  not  only  uninformed,  but  even  mis- 
informed, concerning  laws,  regulations,  and  customs, 
their  own  rights  and  their  own  obligations. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  past  thirty  years 
these  constantly  increasing  numbers  of  foreign  born 
have  been  ignored  or  looked  upon  with  suspicion  and 
prejudice  by  the  native  born. 

That  they  have  "assimilated"  at  all  must  be  credited 
to  their  own  struggles  to  learn  about  the  country  and 
to  become  part  of  it. 

In  recent  years  have  come  the  "Americanizers." 
They  have  discovered  that  the  immigrant  is  a  problem, 
and  have  maintained  that  something  must  be  done  to 
him  to  lessen  this  problematical  quality  with  which 
they  have  gratuitously  endowed  him.  He  must  be 
"Americanized."  The  very  term  repudiates  any  rec- 
ognition of  the  immigrant's  own  efforts  to  become  an 
American.  It  insists  that  the  immigrant  conform,  take 
on  a  sameness  of  customs  and  manners,  rather  than 
that  he  participate  with  the  native  born  in  a  common 
purpose  of  effecting  national  unity  and  progress. 

Assimilation  cannot  be  forced  on  the  immigrant. 
The  process  must  be  a  natural  growth  from  within 
himself.  If  it  is  to  be  constructive  and  lasting,  the 
native  born's  part  in  the  process  must  consist  in  aiding 
the  immigrant's  own  efforts  to  become  identified  with 
the  life  of  the  country. 

He  must  have  at  his  disposal  an  information  service 
free  from  all  taint  of  propaganda,  explaining  the  laws 
and  opportunities  of  the  country  and  his  own  responsi- 
bilities and  rights  under  the  Government.    He  cannot 

163 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

wait  for  this  knowledge  until  he  has  mastered  the 
language  of  the  country.  It  must  therefore  be  given 
him  in  his  native  language,  for  the  reason  that  he  can- 
not otherwise  be  reached.  This  service  must  include 
information  for  the  individual  immigrant  and  adjust- 
ment of  his  particular  difficulties  in  matters  of  govern- 
ment concern.  His  experiences  in  American  life  must 
square  with  the  American  sense  of  fair  play  in  so  far 
as  it  is  in  the  power  of  an  agency  or  organization  to 
make  them  do  so. 

The  prejudices  of  the  native  born  toward  the  immi- 
grant, their  ignorance  of  his  contributions  and  needs, 
must  be  overcome,  for  they  constitute  a  serious  barrier 
to  assimilation. 

The  Purpose  of  the  Service 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  takes 
this  first  all-important  step  in  constructive  assimila- 
tion. It  informs  the  foreign-speaking  peoples  in  their 
native  tongue  about  the  government  and  laws  of  the 
country;  it  clears  up  their  misconceptions  and  adjusts 
their  individual  difficulties,  especially  in  matters  with 
which  Government  departments  are  concerned.  It  tells 
what  the  Government  expects  of  them  and  what  it 
offers  them.  It  also  gives  the  native  born  accurate 
information  on  the  foreign-born  groups  and  the  con- 
ditions affecting  them  in  the  effort  to  create  mutual 
understanding. 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  is  strictly 
and  literally  non-partisan.  Its  basic  principle  is  the 
complete  elimination  from  its  work  of  propaganda  of 
any  kind,  religious,  political,  industrial,  or  social. 
Facts  and  data  from  official  sources  are  given;  never 
deductions  or  opinions  offered  on  them.  Thus,  while 
it  makes  every  effort  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the 
immigrant  all  the  official  data  necessary  for  him  to 
make  up  his  mind  on  the  vital  question  of  citizenship 
and,  providing  his  decision  is  in  the  affirmative,  assists 
him  in  every  way  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  it  never 
endeavors  to  stimulate  artificially  the  desire  itself. 

164 


APPENDIX  A 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  en- 
deavors, through  the  use  of  accurate  information,  to 
overcome  those  prejudices  and  misunderstandings 
which  stand  in  the  way  of  the  immigrant's  becoming 
an  integral  part  of  the  national  life,  whether  such 
prejudice  and  misunderstanding  lie  with  the  native  or 
the  foreign  born.  There  can  be  no  team-work  coupled 
with  antagonism. 

Understanding  means  sympathy,  and  sympathy  be- 
gets unity.  1 1  is  to  this  belief  that  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service  is  dedicated. 

How  THE  Service  Works 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  gives 
the  immigrant  the  information  and  service  he  needs 
through  the  three  principal  mediums  of  immigrant 
contact,  the  foreign-language  press,  foreign-language 
organizations,  and  individual  service  work. 

Fifteen  foreign-language  sections  pour  into  their 
press  a  mass  of  informative  data,  largely  from  govern- 
ment sources,  which  tends  to  bring  the  immigrant 
reader  in  close  touch  with  the  Federal  Government. 
Through  the  foreign-language  organizations  a  certain 
portion  of  the  immigrant  population,  which  may  not 
have  been  touched  by  the  first  outlet,  is  reached  with 
similar  information.  The  individual  service  work 
comes  chiefly  as  a  logical  and  inevitable  result  of  the 
work  along  these  other  lines.  These  three  channels 
or  phases  of  the  Service  are  more  fully  discussed  else- 
where in  this  summary. 

The  work  of  interpreting  the  alien  to  America  is 
done  chiefly  through  the  American  Press  Section, 
which  sends  out  to  the  native  American  press  transla- 
tions of  editorials  from  foreign-language  papers  and 
also  brief  items  and  longer  articles  on  the  foreign  born. 
This  branch  of  the  Service  is,  like  the  others,  entirely 
clear  of  propaganda.  It  deals  with  facts  and  existing 
conditions,  not  with  theories  or  opinions. 


165 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

^-  Government  Cooperation 

Seventy-three   Government    departments,   commis- 
sions, bureaus,  and  divisions  cooperate  with  the  Foreign 
Language    Information   Service    in    its   various    lines' 
of  work. 

Under  the  headings  Press  Work  and  Individual 
Service  the  intimate  relation  and  cooperation  the 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service  maintains  with 
Government  departments  is  given  in  detail.  Two 
points  should  be  noted : 

1.  Government  departments  and  bureaus 
are,  without  exception,  willing  and  anxious 
to  furnish  both  general  and  specific  informa- 
tion and  assistance  to  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service. 

2.  Many  Government  departments  are  call- 
ing directly  upon  the  Foreign  Language  In- 
formation Service  for  its  specialized  assistance 
in  their  own  work. 

From  the  time  the  War  Department  called  upon  the 
Service  to  carry  its  draft  measure  to  the  foreign  born 
up  to  the  present  time,  when  the  Alien  Property  Cus- 
todian is  seeking  the  cooperation  of  the  Service  in  ad- 
justing the  highly  difficult  and  technical  problems  of 
that  office,  there  has  come  a  steadily  increasing  use  of 
the  Service  by  Government  agencies. 

The  following  example  may  be  cited:  The  Bureau 
of  Internal  Revenue  requested  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service  thoroughly  to  inform  the  foreign 
born  on  the  complicated  income  tax  proceedings.  The 
Service  in  four  months  issued  172  Internal  Revenue 
releases,  which  gave  full  information  on  the  income 
tax  as  applied  to  aliens,  and  which  were  printed  in  all 
the  foreign-language  papers  on  its  lists.  In  addition, 
sixteen  circular  letters  on  the  income  tax  were  sent  to 
4,500  of  the  largest  foreign-language  societies,  and  the 
managers  of  the  foreign-language  sections  explained  the 

166 


APPENDIX  A 

income  tax  law  at  1 27  meetings  of  their  groups  in  various 
foreign-language  centers. 

A  very  serious  and  widespread  situation  of  wrong 
classification  of  the  foreign  born  was  found  to  exist. 
Also  mistakes  were  made  in  taxing  them,  and  lack  of 
information  on  the  part  of  local  administrators  of  the 
income  tax  law  was  a  prevalent  condition.  The 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service  presented  to  the 
Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue,  at  its  request,  full  re- 
ports and  recommendations  on  these  matters. 

Acting  on  the  recommendations  of  the  Service,  a 
revision  of  treasury  decisions  and  forms  of  refund  ap- 
plications was  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Internal  Rev- 
enue. Affidavits  were  also  obtained  from  consuls  or 
other  acceptable  agents  by  the  Foreign  Language  In- 
formation Service  establishing  the  income  tax  situa- 
tion in  foreign  countries.  As  a  result,  the  Bureau  of 
Internal  Revenue  was  able  to  fix  correctly  the  status 
of  aliens  from  these  countries  in  the  United  States.  The 
situation  in  regard  to  Lithuanians  is  one  case  in  point. 

In  April,  1920,  it  came  to  the  notice  of  the  Service 
that  Lithuanians  throughout  the  country  were  not 
being  granted  the  exemption  due  them  by  law,  either 
as  subjects  of  the  former  Russian  Empire  or  as  citizens 
of  Lithuania.  This,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  both 
Russia  and  the  new  Lithuanian  government  satisfied 
the  credit  requirements  of  the  United  States.  Lith- 
uanians appearing  before  local  collectors  and  claiming 
exemption  as  Lithuanians  were  told  that  the  State 
Department  had  not  recognized  Lithuania,  and  there- 
fore such  exemption  could  not  be  granted.  This  mis- 
understanding was  due  to  confusion  regarding  the 
status  of  Lithuania.  The  Service  at  once  called  the 
attention  of  the  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue  to  this 
fact.  The  Commissioner  suggested  that  a  statement 
be  secured  from  the  Lithuanian  Commission  (the  offi- 
cial representative  of  Lithuania  in  this  country),  de- 
claring that  "similar  credit"  was  granted  in  Lithuania 
to  American  citizens.  This  statement  was  immediately 
secured  and  sent  to  the  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue. 

167 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

On  May  27,  1920,  the  Service  wired  the  Commissioner 
as  follows:  "Hundreds  of  Lithuanians  besieging  us  re- 
garding status.  Is  it  possible  to  put  through  decision 
soon?"  An  answer  was  received  by  wire  the  same  day, 
stating  that  the  decision  had  gone  through.  This  was 
followed  by  a  letter  from  the  Commissioner  in  which 
he  stated  that  "citizens  of  Lithuania  are  entitled  to 
the  personal  exemption  and  credit  for  dependents, 
inasmuch  as  Lithuania  satisfied  the  similar  credit  re- 
quirement." Not  only  was  the  decision  put  through 
in  less  than  two  weeks,  but  the  local  collectors  were 
informed  by  wire  to  grant  legal  exemption  to  Lithu- 
anians. 

The  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue  then  asked  the 
Service  for  further  suggestions  as  to  revisions  in  forms 
and  definitions  affecting  aliens.  In  accordance  with 
this,  the  executives  of  the  Service  held  several  confer- 
ences with  the  Solicitor  of  Internal  Revenue  and  his 
assistants,  and  drew  up  a  series  of  recommendations 
which  should  define  more  clearly  and  more  justly  the 
status  of  resident  and  non-resident  aliens.  Using  these 
recommendations  as  a  basis,  the  Solicitor  drew  up 
amendments  to  Articles  312  and  315  of  Regulation  45. 
These  amendments,  endorsed  by  this  Service,  were 
submitted  for  ratification  to  the  Commissioner.  In 
April,  1 92 1,  the  new  amendments  were  put  through 
and  released  without  further  modification  as  Treasury 
Decision  3155. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  Departments  of 
State,  War,  Treasury,  Labor,  Interior,  and  the  Bureaus 
of  War  Risk  Insurance,  War  Loan  Organization,  Im- 
migration, Naturalization,  the  Children's  Bureau,  the 
Woman's  Bureau,  and  the  Alien  Property  Custodian 
have  at  various  times  directly  asked  the  help  and  the 
active  cooperation  of  the  Foreign  Language  Informa- 
tion Service. 


168 


APPENDIX  A 

Press  Work 

I 

Prior  to  the  war  the  foreign-language  press  of  the 
United  States  derived  the  major  portion  of  its  news 
from  reprinted  matter  taken  from  the  native  American 
press  and  from  special  material  furnished  by  corre- 
spondents in  the  various  mother  countries  of  Europe. 
The  foreign-language  publications  could  not  afford  to 
maintain  press  representatives  in  Washington,  and 
thus  that  intimate  contact  with  the  workings  of  the 
Federal  Government,  which  comes  to  the  native-born 
reader  as  a  matter  of  course,  was  lost  to  the  immigrant 
population.  The  enormous  amount  of  routine  press 
material  which  goes  out  daily  from  the  Government 
departments  and  bureaus  went  to  the  foreign-language 
press  when  they  requested  it  as  to  the  native,  but 
naturally  it  was  released  in  English  and  the  added  cost 
of  translation,  coupled  with  the  time  and  labor  in- 
volved, made  the  use  of  this  data  by  the  great  mass  of 
foreign-language  publications  practically  impossible. 

This  condition  was  not  alleviated  until  the  advent 
of  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service.  With 
the  formation  of  this  Service  the  situation  underwent 
a  radical  change.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  a  medium  of 
transmission  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  both  the 
Federal  Government  and  the  foreign-language  press. 
Government  material  flowed  into  the  foreign-language 
sections  of  the  Service,  was  edited  (i.  e.,  cut,  but  never 
changed),  and  translated  with  the  particular  needs  of 
the  fore  gn-  anguage  press  and  population  in  mind, 
and  then  was  released  again  for  use  in  the  foreign- 
language  publications. 

The  foreign-language  press  and  its  readers  are  now 
thoroughly  in  touch  for  the  first  time,  through  the 
medium  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Serv- 
ice, with  all  Government  activities  and  rulings  which 
are  likely  to  affect  them  in  any  way.  In  addition  to 
this,  about  15  per  cent  of  the  material  released,  the 
other  85  per  cent  being  governmental,  comes  from  such 

169 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

national  organizations  and  agencies  as  have  construc- 
tive data  to  offer.  Not  a  line  of  propaganda,  either 
direct  or  indirect,  has  ever  been  released  through  the 
Service. 

II 

The  total  foreign-born  population  of  the  United 
States  is  about  14, 1 22,852.  The  total  number  of  papers 
and  periodicals  in  the  foreign-language  press  of  the 
United  States  is  about  1,285,  with  a  circulation  esti- 
mated at  about  10,000,000. 

The  total  foreign-born  population  of  the  eighteen 
foreign-language  groups  covered  by  the  Foreign  Lan- 
guage Information  Service  is  9,179,853.  The  total 
number  of  papers  and  periodicals  of  these  eighteen 
groups  is  795,  with  a  circulation  estimated  at  7,735,172. 

It  is  this  last  press  of  795  units  with  which  we  have 
to  deal,  and  before  taking  up  the  question  of  the  source 
of  the  material  released  to  this  press  and  its  actual  use, 
it  may  be  enlightening  to  analyze  the  press  itself  from 
several  different  angles. 

The  table  ("A")  shows  the  distribution  of  this  press 
by  the  fifteen  sections  of  the  Foreign  Language  In- 
formation Service  There  is  shown,  first,  the  number 
of  papers  on  the  mailing  list  of  each  section,  and, 
second,  the  number  of  papers  actually  received  by 
each  section.  This  last  item  is  important,  because 
when  we  come  to  show  use  of  material,  our  figures  are 
naturally  based  only  on  those  papers  received,  leaving 
a  very  considerable  percentage  to  be  accounted  for 
which  may  or  may  not  use  the  releases. 

TABLE  "A" 

Publications 

Section:                                               On  Mailing  List  Received 

Czech 73  54 

Danish 23  20 

Dutch 23  14 

Finnish 22  10 

German 1 66  89 

Hungarian 43  38 

170 


APPENDIX  A 

Italian 117  ^j 

Jewish 26  21 

Jugoslav 40  35 

Lithuanian 21  16 

Norwegian 46  35 

Polish 74  59 

Russian 19  12 

Slovak 43  22   . 

Swedish 44  24 

Ukrainian 15  10 

Total 795  516 

An  analysis  by  Period  of  Publication  shows  the  fol- 
lowing ("B"). 

TABLE  **B" 

Publications 
Period  OF  Publication:  On  Mailing  List   Received 

Dailies loi  89 

Tri-weeklies 12  11 

Bi-weeklies 26  23 

Weeklies 518  322 

Bi-monthlies 31  18 

Monthlies 106  53 

Quarterlies i 

Total 795  516 

An  analysis  by  Class  of  Publication  shows  the  fol- 
lowing ("C"): 

TABLE  "C" 

Publications 
Class  of  Publication  On  Mailing  List  Received 

Newspapers 543  372 

Fraternal  publications 86  58 

Religious  publications 78  39 

Technical  and  trade  journals. ...  49  24 

General  magazines 39  23 

Total 795  516 

In  considering  these  figures  there  are  several  primary 
factors  which  must  be  borne  in  mind.  The  press  service 
rendered  by  the  foreign-language  Sections  of  this  Serv- 
ice differs  radically  from  the  press  service  given  by 

171 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

the  ordinary  newspaper  syndicate.  Almost  invariably 
the  newspaper  syndicate  supplies  only  one  type  of 
paper;  that  is,  its  service  goes  to  daily  newspapers  or 
to  weekly  newspapers,  to  religious  periodicals,  or  to 
agricultural  journals.  Its  scope  is  definitely  limited; 
for  if  it  were  not  it  could  not  be  operated  except  at  a 
loss. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  field  covered  by  these 
tabulations  is  inclusive  of  almost  every  type  of  paper 
published.  The  result  is  that  what  is  acceptable  to 
one  is  not  acceptable  to  another;  a  weekly  cannot  use 
the  type  or  the  same  amount  of  copy  which  will  be 
acceptable  to  a  daily,  and  a  monthly  is  still  more 
definitely  limited.  In  like  manner,  the  material  usable 
by  the  ordinary  newspaper  may  be  useless  to  the  re- 
ligious press,  while  that  fitted  for  publication  in  trade 
and  class  periodicals  usually  differs  w.dely  from  any 
other  specialized  type  of  copy.  It  is  obvious,  then, 
that  instead  of  being  able  to  pursue  a  single  straight 
line,  it  is  necessary  to  radiate  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
cover  the  whole  field. 

A  further  factor  in  determining  the  use  of  material 
sent  out  by  the  foreign-language  Sections  is  the  various 
policies  of  the  papers  to  which  it  goes.  There  is  a 
small  minority  of  papers  of  an  extremely  radical 
tendency  which  uses  no  copy  sent  out  by  the  Service, 
and  there  are  others,  such  as  humorous  publications, 
the  columns  of  which  are  likewise  closed  to  us.  These 
papers  all  receive  our  material,  however,  because,  in 
the  first  place,  it  serves  to  educate  them  along  con- 
structive lines,  and,  in  the  second,  because  as  long  as 
they  receive  our  material  they  will  keep  us  on  their 
mailing  list,  and  we  will  thus  be  able  to  keep  in  in- 
timate touch  with  the  reaction  of  the  entire  press. 

It  will  be  observed  again  that  of  the  795  papers  on 
our  mailing  list  only  516  are  being  received.  This  is 
explained  by  the  fact  that  in  some  instances  papers 
with  a  small  free  list  have  not  been  able  to  include  us, 
and  in  others  by  disinclination  to  furnish  free  copies  to 
anyone.     It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  that  our  file 

172 


APPENDIX  A 

of  foreign-language  papers  is  probably  as  large  as  any 
in  the  country.  There  are  included  in  the  516  papers 
received  a  certain  number  which  do  not  use  our  ma- 
terial for  reasons  of  policy.  On  the  other  hand,  we  are 
constantly  learning  from  seeing  isolated  copies  that 
there  is  a  use  of  our  material  in  certain  of  the  279 
papers  on  our  list  which  we  do  not  receive.  It  is,  of 
course,  impossible  to  include  figures  on  these  papers. 
Hence  the  percentage  on  the  use  of  our  material  must 
necessarily  be  pulled  down  by  the  inclusion  of  papers 
that  do  not  use  our  material,  but  which  are  received, 
and  the  necessary  exclusion  of  papers  that  do  use  it 
and  which  are  not  received.  It  is  necessary  to  note 
further  that  the  516  papers  received  come  in  many 
instances  with  great  irregularity,  the  postal  conditions 
not  being  conducive  to  a  steady  supply. 

Ill 

Especially  during  the  two  years  since  the  War  the 
foreign-language  press  has  been  under  constant  fire 
as  being  ultra-radical.  Hence  the  following  analysis 
may  be  of  interest. 

This  analysis  was  made  by  taking  at  haphazard  a 
group  of  328  editorials  from  86  papers  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  and  listing  them  in  this  manner: 

Radical,  as  equal  to  the  New  York  Call 

Liberal,  '[     ;;      ;;    ;;   New  York  \)^or/d 

Conservative, New  York  Times 

Reactionary,     New  York  Tribune 

These  equations  may  be  disputed,  and  they  are  cer- 
tainly open  to  argument;  but,  taking  them  as  a  work- 
ing basis,  the  results  are  startling. 

It  may  likewise  be  argued  that  this  analysis  covers 
too  small  a  field  to  be  representative,  but  such  is  not 
actually  the  case.  These  86  papers,  with  their  328 
editorials,  are  distinctly  representative  of  the  foreign- 
language  press  in  this  country  as  a  whole,  and  a  more 
complete  tabulation  would  only  serve  to  bear  this  out. 

Taking  all  86  papers  and  all  328  editorials,  we  find 

173 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

that,  according  to  this  method,   5%  are  reactionary, 
41%  conservative,  51%  liberal,  and  3%  radical. 

Next,  taking  the  papers  which  are  professedly  Re- 
publican, there  are  19  of  these,  with  66  editorials,  we 
find  that  6%  are  reactionary,  63%  are  conservative, 
31%  are  liberal,  and  none  are  radical. 

Next,  those  papers  which  profess  to  be  Progressive 
or  Independent — 19,  with  99  editorials.  Of  these  6% 
are  reactionary,  26%  are  conservative,  67%  are  liberal, 
and  1%  are  radical. 

Next,  the  9  papers,  with  their  41  editorials,  which 
profess  to  be  Socialist.  Of  these  none  are  reactionary, 
10%  are  conservative,  88%  are  liberal,  and  2%  are 
radical. 

Next,  the  4  Communist  papers,  with  their  20  ed- 
itorials.    Of  these  60%  are  liberal,  and  40%  radical. 

Finally,  a  group  of  35  papers,  with  102  editorials, 
which  do  not  declare  themselves,  and  which  are  hence 
unclassified.  Of  these  6%  are  reactionary,  58%  are 
conservative,  35%  are  liberal,  and  1%  are  radical. 

Material  for  possible  release  to  their  press  comes  to 
the  foreign-language  Sections  from  various  sources. 
About  85  per  cent  of  it  is  from  Federal  Government 
departments  and  bureaus,  73  of  which  release  matter 
continually  through  the  Service.  All  these '  releases 
are  edited  by  the  Sections,  who  take  whatever  they 
consider  is  most  needed  by  their  press  and  send  it 
out  in  translated  form.  The  editing  of  this  material 
consists  in  cutting  and  condensing;  it  is  never  actually 
changed  in  the  smallest  degree,  and  no  editorial  com- 
ment of  any  kind  is  attached  to  it.  While  the  major 
portion  of  this  material  consists  of  regular  bureau  and 
departmental  releases,  on  many  occasions  special 
stories  and  even  series  have  been  compiled  for  the 
use  of  the  foreign-language  press.  The  general  pro- 
cedure is  as  follows: 

The  directors  and  the  Washington  representative 
maintain  contacts  with  the  Government  departments. 
The  Government  departments  in  turn  send  daily  re- 
leases to  the  foreign-language  Sections.     The  Wash- 

174 


APPENDIX  A 

ington  representative  obtains  for  the  foreign-language 
Sections  all  Government  reports,  bulletins,  and  special 
data  not  on  the  regular  mailing  list  and  arranges  with 
Government  departments  for  articles  especially  desired 
by  the  foreign-language  press.  Particularly  extensive 
cooperation  has  existed  with  the  Bureau  of  War  Risk 
Insurance,  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service, 
the  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue,  the  Naturalization 
Bureau,  the  Children's  Bureau,  the  Bureau  of  Immi- 
gration, and  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 

The  United  States  Public  Health  Service  has  re- 
quested the  Service  to  aid  it  in  running  a  question  box 
in  the  foreign-language  papers,  and  prepares  also  a 
special  weekly  article  for  the  foreign- language  press, 
released  through  the  fifteen  Sections.  The  Bureau  of 
War  Risk  Insurance  has  also  made  a  question  box 
arrangement  with  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service. 

The  Bureau  of  Naturalization  has  cooperated  with 
the  Service  in  compiling  a  pamphlet,  "How  to  Become 
a  Citizen,"  for  release  to  the  foreign-language  press. 
An  introduction  to  this  pamphlet  was  written  by  the 
United  States  Director  of  Citizenship,  and  the  whole 
was  released  through  the  fifteen  Sections. 

The  Children's  Bureau  has  prepared  several  special 
series  for  the  use  of  the  Service.  The  last  series  released 
consisted  of  a  group  of  articles  entitled  "The  Care  of 
the  Child." 

These  are  only  a  few  examples  of  the  highly  special- 
ized press  service  rendered  the  foreign  born  which  has 
been  made  possible  by  unusually  close  contact  and 
cooperation  with  Government  departments. 


"  175 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

BY  SOURCE 
Summary  of  Articles  and  Words  Published  by  the  Foreign- 
Language  Press,  February,  1920,  to  May,  1921 

Articles  Words 

Dept.  of  State 1,801  518, 670 

Treasury — Federal  Reserve 29  9 ,  47 1 

— Public  Health 5,707  1.843,371 

— War  Risk 459  152,053 

— Internal  Revenue.  ..  .         716  310,857 

— Savings  Division 979  196,301 

— Miscellaneous 364  89 ,  400 

"War 1,351  3^4,9^5 

'*     "PostOffice 581  125,218 

Interior i,555  176,830 

Agriculture 3  ,  246  861 ,099 

Commerce i  ,649  352,927 

Labor — Naturalization 1 83  41,314 

— Children's  Bureau i,477  443,794 

— Miscellaneous 437  212,882 

American  Red  Cross 11 ,928  3  ,684 ,  747 

Council  of  National  Defense 4 ,330  276, 146 

F.  L.  I.  S 1,538  742,996 

Naturalization  Pamphlet,  F.  L.  I.  S 143  81 ,517 

Miscellaneous 4 ,  709  i ,  434 , 045 

Total 43  , 1 82  12,218, 603 

BY  LANGUAGE 

Summary  of  Articles  and  Words  Published  by  the  Foreign- 
Language  Press,  February,  1920,  to  May,  1920 

Articles  Words 

Czech , 4 ,  629  1 ,  700 ,118 

Slovak 1 ,632  561 ,034 

Danish i ,  643  495  , 989 

Dutch 1,006  269,355 

Finnish i , 902  586 ,  066 

German 6,903  1,723,819 

Hungarian 6,037  685,524 

Italian 5,064  2,061,561 

Jewish 1 ,038  308,208 

Jugoslav 1 ,616  558,085 

Lithuanian i  ,025  210,355 

Norwegian 1,155  345 » 370 

Polish 5,551  1,533,441 

Russian 1,236  487,337 

Swedish i ,  5  5^  413, 3&3 

Ukrainian i ,  1 29  278 ,  978 

Total 43 , 1 82  12,218, 603 

176 


APPENDIX  A 

12,218,603  words  are  equal  to  approximately  12,200 
solid  newspaper  columns. 

The  795  papers  of  the  foreign-language  press  of  the 
United  States  which  are  covered  by  the  work  of  this 
Service  use  an  average  of  three-quarters  of  a  million 
words  per  month  of  the  material  released  to  them  by 
the  fifteen  foreign-language  Sections.  An  idea  of  the 
volume  of  this  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
H.  G.  Wells's  "Outline  of  History"  contains  only 
about  half  a  million  words,  or  250,000  less  than  the 
amount  of  the  releases  of  this  Service  printed  by 
the  foreign-language  press  every  month.  Further  than 
this,  a  large  number  of  the  foreign-language  papers 
feature  this  governmental  material  on  their  front 
pages,  sometimes  even  to  the  exclusion  of  the  ordinary 
news  item,  and  in  many  cases  it  constitutes  a  con- 
siderable bulk  of  the  matter  of  the  issue. 

Take,  for  example,  the  New  Yorkin  Uutiset,  a  Finnish 
New  York  daily.  A  recent  issue  of  this  paper  contains 
more  than  4,000  words  of  the  Service  releases,  occupy- 
ing the  entire  front  page,  and  constituting  in  bulk 
23  per  cent  of  the  entire  news  space  of  the  paper. 
Again,  an  issue  of  the  Buffaloi  Hirado,  a  Buffalo,  New 
York,  Hungarian  paper,  gave  50  per  cent  of  its  entire 
news  space  to  the  Service's  material.  The  Sviet,  a 
Russian  weekly  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  in  one 
issue  devotes  over  32  per  cent  of  its  entire  news  space 
to  eighteen  of  the  Service's  releases.  A  Czechoslovak 
paper  of  Chicago,  Slavie,  has  40  per  cent  of  the  front 
page  of  one  issue  given  up  to  this  material,  and  in 
another  issue  28  per  cent.  With  the  other  racial  groups 
a  similar  ratio  applies.  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service  releases  occupy  28  per  cent  of  the  entire  space 
on  one  issue  of  Das  Nordlicht,  a  German  paper  in 
North  Dakota;  22  per  cent  of  Ukraina,  a  Chicago 
Ukrainian  daily;  25  per  cent  of  Americos  Lietuvis,  a 
Lithuanian  paper  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts;  14  per 
cent  of  the  Utah  Posten,  a  Swedish  paper  published  in 
Salt  Lake  City;  18  per  cent  of  Zajednicar,  a  Jugoslav 
paper  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania;    11    per  cent  of 

177 


/ 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Zurnal,  a  Los  Angeles,  California,  Jugoslav  daily;  13 
per  cent  of  De  Hollandsche  Amerikaan,  Dutch,.  Kala- 
mazoo, Michigan,  and  10  per  cent  of  Revyen,  a  Danish 
daily  published  in  Chicago. 

These  are  only  a  few  out  of  hundreds  of  such  papers 
that  might  be  similarly  quoted,  but  they  are  repre- 
sentative of  the  use  made  by  the  foreign  press  as  a 
whole  of  the  Service's  material,  and  they  indicate  a 
genuine  desire  to  assist  their  foreign-speaking  readers 
to  a  thorough  and  loyal  understanding  of  America,  her 
laws,  and  her  customs. 

Individual  Service  Work 

From  almost  every  state  appeals  come  to  the  For^ 
eign  Language  Information  Service  from  those  who 
cannot  speak  English,  asking  for  help  in  adjusting 
their  problems  and  difficulties  in  connection  with  the 
federal  income  tax  law,  the  naturalization  proceedings, 
war  risk  allotments,  insurance  and  compensation,  im- 
migration, education,  health,  and  numerous  other  mat- 
ters falling  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. These  cases  are  handled  either  directly  by 
the  managers  of  the  foreign-language  Sections  or  in 
consultation  with  one  of  the  associate  directors,  who 
specializes  on  this  phase  of  the  work  and  who  has 
frequent  conferences  with  Government  departments  in 
Washington  and  is  kept  constantly  informed  by  them 
of  all  changes  in  regulations  and  rulings  affecting  the 
foreign  born.  Cases  requiring  immediate  action  or 
personal  presentation  to  Government  officials  are  re- 
ferred to  the  Washington  representative  of  the  Service. 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  thus  acts 
as  a  link  between  non-English-speaking  people  and  the 
Government  departments  in  adjusting  these  matters. 
The  individual  service  developed  after  the  first  six 
months  of  information  service  to  the  foreign-language 
press  and  organizations.  Editors  of  foreign-language 
papers  and  organization  officers  began  to  refer  to  the 
Service  hundreds  of  foreign-born  persons  who  con- 
stantly appealed  to  them  for  help,  because  they  realized 

178 


APPENDIX  A 

that  the  Service  could  supply  that  highly  specialized 
information  needed  in  these  cases.  The  quick  and  sat- 
isfactory results  obtained  by  the  Service  in  giving  this 
information  received  widespread  and  enthusiastic  com- 
mendation from  the  foreign-language  papers,  organiza- 
tions, and  individuals.  Those  who  had  been  helped 
spread  their  story  and  sent  their  friends  to  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service.  Thus  the  foreign-born 
groups  as  a  whole  soon  learned  of  this  phase  of  the 
work  and  turned  to  the  Service  for  a  solution  of  their 
individual  problems. 

Within  the  last  year  the  work  of  the  Service  in  ad- 
justing these  particular  problems  with  Government  de- 
partments has  become  known  to  a  number  of  American 
agencies,  and  they  also  have  been  referring  many 
foreign- born  persons  to  it. 

During  the  fifteen-month  period — February,  1920, 
to  May,  1 92 1 — foreign-born  persons  have  brought 
23,449  problems  to  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service.  Twenty  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-six 
of  these  have  been  adjusted  satisfactorily.  The  ma- 
jority have  been  problems  on  income  tax,  passport  reg- 
ulations, on  citizenship,  war  risk  allotments,  immigra- 
tion, and  emigration. 

The  individual  service  work  naturally  varies  in  that 
the  peak  is  reached  now  in  one  phase  and  now  in  an- 
other. Thus,  while  for  two  years,  19 19  and  1920, 
income  tax  problems  preponderated,  a  period  was  gone 
through  in  the  fall  of  1920  and  spring  of  1921,  when 
exploitation  problems  occupied  most  of  the  time  of 
several  of  the  foreign-language  Sections.  Foreign-born 
persons  were  cheated  in  every  conceivable  manner, 
and  it  is  only  during  the  last  four  months  that  there 
has  been  a  lessening  of  this  condition.  There  has  been 
a  steady  increase  during  the  fifteen-month  period  in 
both  immigration  and  emigration  problems.  The 
difficulties  of  persons  desiring  to  return  to  Europe 
and  of  those  wishing  to  bring  families  and  relatives  to 
this  side  have  been  countless.  Assistance  from  the 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service  in  locating  lost 

179 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

relatives  is  being  asked  by  more  individuals  each  month. 
In  April,  929  appeals  of  this  sort  came  to  the  Service, 
twice  as  many  as  in  the  three  previous  months.  This 
was  due  in  part  to  the  success  the  Service  had  had 
during  the  previous  three  months  in  finding  over  three 
hundred  persons  whose  relatives  had  been  vainly  search- 
ing for  them  for  over  a  year. 

Three  general  characteristics  may  be  cited  in  regard 
to  individual  service  work: 

First. — Many  of  the  problems  brought  by  indi- 
viduals lead  to  other  problems,  each  one  of  which  is 
often  as  difficult  to  adjust  as  the  original  one.  Fre- 
quently the  work  for  a  single  individual  continues  for 
a  year  or  eighteen  months,  and  involves  extensive  con- 
erences  with  four  or  five  Government  departments. 
The  following  is  a  typical  instance: 

The  work  of  adjusting  the  allotment  and  naturaliza- 
tion problems  of  a  Czech,  Mr.  Louis  S ,  of  Ne- 
braska, extended  over  eighteen  months  and  involved 
the   sending   of   four   telegrams   and   the   writing   of 

seventy-two  letters  to  Mr.  S ,  to  the  Bureau  of 

War  Risk,  War  Department,  American  Red  Cross 
(Civilian  Relief),  Bureau  of  Naturalization,  Depart- 
ment of  Justice,  Naturalization  Examiner,  individual 
teachers  in  Seward,  clerk  of  D  strict  Court,  Seward 
County,  Nebraska,  and  Czechoslovak  Legion  Head- 
quarters. 

The  original  appeal  from  Mr.  S came  October 

2,  1 9 19.  He  had  served  for  six  months  in  the  United 
States  Army,  and  had  carried  war  risk  insurance  for 
$10,000.  He  was  discharged  from  the  army  on  the 
technical  ground  that  he  was  an  enemy  alien,  because 
he  was  born  in  Czechoslovakia,  a  part  of  the  former 
Austro-Hungarian  Empire.  He  wished  to  continue  his 
insurance,  but  wanted  it  only  for  $1,000  instead  of  the 

original  $10,000.    Mr.  S could  not  understand  or 

speak  English,  so  that  all  his  correspondence  with  the 
War  Risk  Bureau  was  undertaken  by  the  Czechoslovak 
Section.  When  the  War  Risk  Bureau  required  his 
discharge  paper,  it  was  discovered  that  this  was  not 

180 


APPENDIX  A 

an  "honorable"  but  the  "blue"  discharge  given  enemy 

aliens.     Mr.  S ,  having  performed  his  duty  as  a 

soldier,  was  under  the  impression  that  his  discharge 
was  an  honorable  one.  The  War  Risk  Bureau,  how- 
ever, refused  to  reinstate  his  insurance,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  discharged  as  an  enemy  alien. 

The  Czechoslovak  Section  finally  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining from  the  Adjutant  General  a  statement  declar- 
ing that  Mr.  S was  "erroneously  discharged,"  and 

an  honorable  discharge  was  then  given  him.  The  case 
was  again  taken  up  with  the  Bureau  of  War  Risk 

Insurance  and  Mr.  S 's  insurance  reinstated  there, 

and  his  premium  paid  ahead. 

Meantime  Mr.  S had  appealed  to  the  Foreign 

Language  Information  Service  for  instructions  regard- 
ing the  completion  of  his  citizenship.  This  had  been 
promised  him  in  the  army.  The  Czechoslovak  Section 
recommended  text-books  on  citizenship  and  English, 
and  provided  him  with  lessons  on  citizenship,  and  also 
found  him  public-school  teachers  who  interested  them- 
selves in  his  endeavor  to  become  a  citizen.  When 
the  naturalization  examiner  visited  that  part  of  Ne- 
braska where  Mr.  S lived,  the  latter  successfully 

passed  his  examination  and  received  his  second  papers, 
March  i6,  1921. 

The  progress  made  by  Mr.  S in  becoming  an 

American  is  shown  in  his  letters,  the  first  of  which  were 
all  in  Czech,  as  he  knew  no  other  language,  and  the 
last  of  which  is  as  follows,  in  the  original  English  as 
he  wrote  it : 

** ,  Nebraska,  March  24,  1921. 

"Dear  :     I  am  letting  you  know  that  I  received  the 

letter  from  you.  Was  glad  to  hear  from  you,  it  is  my  duty  to 
you,  to  thanking  you  very  much  for  all  the  trouble  with  me. 
I  got  my  citizenship  paper  on  the  i6th  of  March,  at  Seward, 
Nebraska,  Seward  County,  and  I  am  very  glad  to  have  it.  But, 
dear,  it  was  your  work  on  it.  Once  more  I  thank  you  very  much 
for  all.     I  remain  as  ever  yours, 

"(Signed)     Louis  A.  S . 

**P.  S. — Write  me  again.    Please  write  in  English  to  me." 

181 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Second. — Many  cases  which  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service  successfully  adjusts  come  to  it  as 
to  a  court  of  last  resort.  The  applicants  have  tried 
other  agencies  and  means  of  solving  their  difficulties 
without  results,  and  bring  to  the  Service  a  long  and 
complicated  record  of  misfortune,  injustice,  and  mis- 
understanding. The  following  case  from  the  Lith- 
uanian Section  illustrates  this  point: 

A  Lithuanian  ex-soldier  had,  without  success,  applied 
for  redress  to  Congressmen,  Senators  and  numerous 
agencies,  and  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up  hope  when 
he  was  urged  by  friends  to  apply  to  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service.     In  his  letter  he  states: 

"I  made  an  allotment  in  my  mother's  name.  .  .  .  Being 
the  eldest  son  and  head  of  our  family,  ...  I  have  prac- 
tically supported  and  do  now  help  my  brothers  and  sisters. 
.  .  .  In  making  my  application  for  allotment,  I  signed 
under  Class  **A,  '  with  government  allowance.  The  War  De- 
partment denies  that  I  made  this  application.  This  is  a  care- 
less falsehood,  the  worst  I  ever  heard.  I  heard  many  times 
from  other  soldiers  that  foreigners  in  the  American  Army  make 
a  mistake  to  expect  a  square  deal.  I  did  not  believe  it.  I  am 
convinced  now,  .  .  .  because  .  .  .  when  I  was  a  member 
of  the Co.,  Lieut. said  to  those  who  applied  for  allot- 
ment Class  **A:  "  *To  hell  with  all  you  foreigners!  You  must 
be  satisfied  if  your  folks  get  $15  a  month.*  This  meant  to  me 
that  America  was  willing  that  I  should  shed  my  blood,  but  my 
signature  to  a  document  that  I  was  legally  entitled  to  meant 
nothing.  .  .  .  My  mother  died  Nov.  11,  191 7,  from  worry 
and  starvation.  .  .  .  This  allotment  might  have  saved  her. 
Not  one  member  of  my  family  ever  received  a  cent.  They  have 
all  suffered.  .  .  .  The  United  States  War  Department  owes 
me  for  this  allotment  from  Nov.  i,  191 7,  to  Sept.  25,  19 19 — 
approximately  $342.50.  ...  I  left  the  U.  S.  Feb.  27,  191 8. 
I  was  transferred  to  the  now  famous  9th  U.  S.  Infantry.  .  .  . 
I  fought  at  the  front  from  April  21,  19 18,  until  July  18,  19 18. 
On  that  day  one  of  the  worst  battles  of  American  history  took 
place,  and  I  was  wounded.  ...  I  was  in  the  hospital  from 
July  20  to  Sept.  4,  19 1 8.  .  .  .  Early  in  November,  19 18,  1 
.  .  .  became  a  citizen  of  the  United  States;  ...  at  least 
I  thought  I  became  a  citizen,  .  .  .  but  to  this  date  I  have  not 
received  my  certificate.  .  .  .  March  25,  19 19,  I  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  American  Commission  to  the  Peace  Conference, 
and  I  was  attached  as  an  interpreter  to  the  Baltic  Mission. 
.     .     .    During  all  the  time  that  I  served  on  the  Baltic  Mission 

182 


APPENDIX  A 

I  did  not  receive  a  cent  salary.  I  signed  no  pay-roll  or  vouchers. 
No  one  asked  me  to,  and  no  one  offered  to  pay  me.  ...  I  had 
to  live  on  my  own  money,  which  I  was  forced  to  borrow  in 
Europe,  in  order  that  I  might  take  care  of  the  necessary  expenses 
in  the  execution  of  my  duty.     My  commanding  officer  told  me 

at  Camp  before  I  was  discharged  that   I  would  be  paid 

some  money,  in  order  that  I  might  buy  some  clothes,  so  that  I 
would  not  be  a  pauper.  I  was  paid  nothing.  .  .  .  Even 
though  I  was  a  foreigner,  before  I  was  discharged  and  when  in 
uniform,  the  populace  referred  to  me  as  *Our  Boy',  and  called 
me  *ioo%  American.'  .  .  .  The  striped  flag  of  the  United 
States  is  beautiful,  and  my  record  will  show  how  highly  I  prize 
it.  The  red  that  is  in  it  makes  me  think  of  my  own  blood  which 
I  shed  for  it  in  France.  This  I  actually  feel,  and  in  this  I  take 
great  pride.  The  only  regret  I  feel  is  that  this  flag  and  what  it 
stands  for  is  so  disregarded  and  dragged  through  the  mud  by 
so  many  narrow-minded,  petty  politicians,  profiteers,  and  so- 
called  searchers  for  the  ioo%  American.     .     .     . 

"I  was  greatly  surprised  when  I  was  asked  to  sign  the  last 
pay-roll,  where  it  was  noted  that  I  had  received  $60.00  bonus, 
traveling  ticket,  and  that  I  had  been  paid  $87.50  up  to  Sept. 
25th.  I  refused  to  sign  this,  and  explained  that  I  had  received 
nothing.  I  had  not  been  paid  for  March,  April,  May,  June, 
July,  and  August.  I  was  informed  that  I  must  sign.  As  for 
the  rest,  I  was  to  leave  that  for  future  adjustment,  and  would 
be  governed  by  my  service  record.  When  they  showed  me  the 
service  record  I  found  that  my  name  had  been  signed  thereto. 

The  names  of  the  lieutenant  of  the  and  the  lieutenant  of 

the  ,  who  was  supposed  to  be  paymaster,  appear  on  the 

service  record.  You  can  find  the  name  of  the  person  who  signed 
for  me  in  the  War  Department.  Someone  signed  for  me,  and 
I  was  supposed  to  have  received  the  money  up  to  and  including 
August  I,  19 1 9.  Now  this  cannot  possibly  be  true.  I  never 
signed  these  things,  and  the  signatures  are  nothing  but  base 
forgeries.  No  one  was  empowered  by  me  to  sign  the  pay-roll 
when  I  was  absent  on  special  duty." 

The  man  adds  a  detailed  statement  of  all  money 
owing  to  him,  almost  $500.  In  addition,  he  had  paid 
for  a  $50  Liberty  Bond,  and  carried  a  $10,000  insurance 
policy.  The  bond  was  never  received  and  the  insur- 
ance had  been  allowed  to  lapse,  because 

*'my  beneficiaries  might  be  treated  the  same  as  my  mother, 
my  brothers,  and  sisters  were  treated.  Finally,  my  right  arm, 
if  I  may  use  a  vulgarism,  is  'on  the  bum.'  It  has  not  the  strength 
that  it  had  formerly.  .  .  .  When  I  left  for  France  I  was  ad- 
vised that  if  anything  happened  to  me  I  would  be  looked  after." 

183 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

The  entire  letter,  over  five  typewritten  pages,  was 
translated  and  sent  to  the  office  of  the  Director  of 
Finance,  War  Department,  and  the  Director  of  War 
Risk  ■  Insurance.  A  few  days  later  a  representative 
from  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  took 
up  the  case  personally  with  officials  in  the  Bureau  of 
War  Risk  and  the  War  Department.  The  letter  had 
meantime  been  referred  to  numerous  Government 
officials,  practically  all  of  whom  had  looked  up  the 
records  and  were  engaged  in  ascertaining  the  facts. 
The  Liberty  Bond  was  immediately  delivered,  the 
lapsed  insurance  was  reinstated,  proper  compensation 
blanks  were  made  out,  and  indemnity  bonds  executed. 
The  ex-soldier  was  reimbursed  for  lost  and  missent 
checks.  He  received  back  pay  and  allowance,  and 
within  about  three  weeks  received  from  the  Govern- 
ment every  cent  that  was  owing  him. 

The  following  service  rendered  a  Jugoslav  illustrates 
the  complexities  of  the  situation  with  the  Alien  Property 
Custodian : 

In  191 3  Michael  Y deposited  in  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Chicago  the  sum  of  $38,843.10.  Im- 
mediately after  he  left  for  Europe  and  was  unable  to 
return  as  he  had  planned.  On  October  30,  191 8,  the 
Alien  Property  Custodian  requested  the  bank  to  turn 

over  the  money  deposited  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Y . 

In  May,   1920,  Mr.  Y reached  this  country  and 

tried  to  draw  his  money  from  the  bank.  He  was  in- 
formed that  the  money  had  been  taken  over  by  the 
Alien  Property  Custodian,  and  was  advised  to  take  up 
the  matter  of  refund  with  the  Custodian  direct.     On 

August  9th  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Y appealed  to 

the  Jugoslav  Section  for  assistance.  The  Section  im- 
mediately referred  the  matter  to  the  Alien  Property 
Custodian.  A  few  days  later  it  was  learned  that  many 
similar  cases  involving  Jugoslav  subjects  had  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Legation  of  the  Kingdom 
of  the  Serbs,  Croats,  and  Slovenes  in  Washington. 
The  Section  Manager  applied  to  the  Legation  to  find 
out  whether  Mr.  Y — — 's  claim  had  been  filed  with 

184 


APPENDIX  A 

the  Custodian.  The  Legation  stated  that  the  pro- 
posed reciprocity  agreement  between  the  Jugoslav  and 
American  Governments  regarding  the  payment  of 
claims  had  been  sent  to  Belgrade  for  ratification,  but 
as  the  agreement  had  not  yet  been  signed,  no  further 
action  could  be  taken.  On  August  23d  the  Alien 
Property  Custodian  reported  to  the  Jugoslav  Section 

that  Mr.  Y must  furnish  a  certificate  from  his 

government  establishing  his  citizenship  as  a  Jugoslav 
subject.  The  same  day  the  Legation  was  requested  by 
wire  to  furnish  the  Custodian  with  a  citizenship  certifi- 
cate for  Mr.  Y .     Meantime,  having  received  no 

further  word  from  the  Legation,  a  photographic  copy 

of  Mr.  Y 's  passport  was  sent  the  Custodian.    The 

following  day  word  was  received  from  the  Custodian 
that  no  action  could  be  taken  until  the  reciprocity 
agreement  was  signed.  On  September  ist  the  Man- 
ager of  the  Jugoslav  Section  conferred  personally  with 
an  official  in  the  office  of  the  Custodian  and  with  the 
Jugoslav  Minister.  The  Minister  declared  that  he  had 
urged  his  government  to  ratify  the  agreement,  but  as 
yet  no  answer  had  been  received.  On  September  1 5th 
the  Jugoslav  Section  cabled  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  in  Belgrade,  urging  that  the  agreement  be 
signed.    On  October  2d  the  Legation  was  again  asked 

regarding  the  agreement.    Two  weeks  later  Mr.  Y 

went  to  Washington,  conferring  there  with  the  Cus- 
todian and  with  the  Washington  representative  of  the 
Service.  Nothing  could  be  done  at  that  time.  On 
November  23d  word  was  received  from  the  Legation, 
stating  that  the  agreement  had  not  yet  been  signed. 
Over  three  months  later  the  Alien  Property  Custodian 
was  again  appealed  to  by  the  Jugoslav  Section  and 
asked  whether  it  was  possible  to  put  through  Mr. 

Y 's  claim  before  the  ratification  of  the  agreement. 

The  Custodian  replied  that  nothing  could  be  done 
until  the  agreement  was  signed.  Toward  the  end  of 
the  month  the  Jugoslav  Section  learned  by  chance 

that  the  agreement  had  been  signed.    Mr.  Y was 

informed  of  this  and  went  to  Washington.     On  April 

185 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

9th  Mr.  Y advised  the  Jugoslav  Section  that  the 

Legation  was  unable  to  do  anything  for  him,  and  that 
he  would  personally  see  the  Service's  Washington  rep- 
resentative and  the  Custodian.  On  April  31st  the 
Manager  of  the  Jugoslav  Section  went  to  Washington, 
conferred  with  the  Department  of  Justice  (where  the 
claim  was  being  held  for  final  O.  K.)  and,  with  the 
Service's  Washington  representative,  conferred  with 
the  Custodian.  The  following  day  the  Department  of 
Justice  demanded  that  the  certificate  of  citizenship 
originally  submitted  be  amended  so  as  to  indicate  the 

exact  treaty  by  which  Mr.  Y became  a  Jugoslav 

subject;  also  that  an  affidavit  be  made  out  explaining 
the  misspelling  of  names.  The  Jugoslav  Manager 
drew  up  this  affidavit  and  requested  the  Legation  to 
issue  a  new  certificate  of  citizenship  in  accordance  with 
the  requirements  of  the  Department  of  Justice.  The 
Department  of  Justice  then  turned  over  the  papers  to 

the  Custodian,  and  on  April  21st  Mr.  Y received 

a  check  for  $38,843.10 

Third. — Many  foreign-born  people  appeal  to  the 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service  for  assistance 
in  problems  with  which  Federal  departments  are  in  no 
way  connected,  but  which  are  purely  local  in  character 
and  have  to  be  adjusted  with  state,  municipal,  and 
private  agencies. 

These  appeals  are  classed  as  "Personal  Problems" 
in  the  accompanying  table.  They  come  to  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service  because  of  the  confi- 
dence the  foreign  born  have  in  it,  and  because  they  are 
ignorant  or  afraid  of  other  agencies.  It  is  not  the 
primary  purpose  of  this  Service  to  handle  such  matters, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  refuse  to  put  these  persons  in 
touch  with  the  proper  authority  or  agency.  This 
usually  involves  considerable  correspondence  or  nu- 
merous conferences  with  various  agencies. 

The  following  health  problem  referred  to  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service  by  a  foreign-language 
organization  illustrates  this  point: 

On   October    26th   the   secretary   of   the   Croatian 

186 


APPENDIX  A 

Singing  Society  in  Chicago  wrote  to  the  Service,  call- 
ing its  attention  to  the  "sorrowful  plight  of  the  family 

of  M O ,"  residing  in  Chicago.     Mr.  O 

had  for  some  time  been  "acting  very  queer.  .  .  . 
Several  of  our  members  have  visited  his  home,  which 
is  the  picture  of  poverty.  .  .  .  There  was  no  pos- 
sibility of  talking  to  him  sensibly  in  any  manner. 
For  some  time  he  has  been  out  of  work,  and  it  is  really 
a  mystery  to  us  how  the  family  is  making  ends  meet. 
His  wife  is  working  and  has  been  trying  her  best  to 
keep  up  the  family;  but  lately  she  became  worried 
that  he  might  do  something  to  the  children,  and  she 
thought  it  unsafe  to  leave  them  alone  with  him  at 
home.  With  the  assistance  of  the  building  and  loan 
society,  he  bought  a  house,  which  was  later  burned 
down,  and  he  is  now  living  in  a  shack  unsuitable  for 
a  human  being.  .  .  .  We  ask  you  kindly  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  to  help  this  poor  family,  and  if  neces- 
sary to  place  him  where  he  would  not  be  a  menace  to 
society."  The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service 
then  referred  this  letter  to  the  United  Charities  of 
Chicago,  which  immediately  sent  an  investigator  to 

the  home  of  M O .    The  final  report  from  the 

United  Charities  stated:     "We  took  up  the  matter 

immediately  after  your  report  came  to  us.    Mr.  O 

was  given  treatment  at  the  dispensary  and  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Chicago  State  Hospital  for  the  Insane, 

February  24,  1921.    Mrs.  O is  seeking  a  position 

as  janitress.  .  .  .  We  are  supporting  the  family 
and  are  very  much  interested  in  the  situation." 

The    purpose    of   individual    service    work   of   the^ 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service  is  not,  however, 
entirely  fulfilled  with  the  adjustment  of  the  problems 
individuals  bring  to  it. 

There  are  two  o,ther  features  of  the  work  which  are 
of  primary  importance : 

First. — The  Service  informs  the  native-born  public 
of  the  facts  it  obtains  through  its  individual  service 
work,  the  conditions  which  cause  these  difficulties, 
and  the  consequent  needs  of  the  foreign  born.     The 

187 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Service  believes  that  many  of  these  difficulties  will  be 
prevented,  and  many  needs  not  allowed  to  continue 
when  there  is  fuller  knowledge  and  understanding  of 
them.  This  phase  of  the  work  is  described  more  fully 
in  the  "Interpretation  of  the  Foreign  Born  to  the 
Native  Born." 

Second. — The  Foreign  Language  Information  Serv- 
ice carries  back  to  the  Government  departments  and 
bureaus  the  specific  needs  which  its  individual  service 
work  reveals,  in  order  to  assist  in  the  working  out  of 
regulations  and  administrative  procedure  which  will 
insure  fair  and  equitable  treatment  of  the  foreign 
born.  As  an  instance  of  this  feature  of  individual 
service  work,  the  cooperation  of  the  Service  with  the 
Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue  on  the  income  tax  may  be 
cited.  This  has  already  been  described  in  "Govern- 
ment Cooperation,"  but  the  significance  and  far- 
reaching  effects  of  this  feature  of  individual  service 
work  on  the  foreign  born  themselves  must  also  be 
noted.  It  is  hard  for  the  average  American  to  con- 
ceive of  the  situation  that  existed  among  the  foreign 
born  in  191 8,  19 19,  and  1920  as  a  result  of  the  wrong 
classification  of  resident  and  non-resident  aliens,  of 
heavy  overtaxing,  and  denial  of  rightful  exemptions. 
Thousands  of  appeals  to  the  Foreign  Language  In- 
formation Service  from  all  parts  of  the  country  showed 
the  condition  to  be  one  bordering  on  terror.  Resident 
aliens  were  classed  as  non-resident  aliens;  certain 
foreign-born  groups  were  denied  their  rightful  exemp- 
tions; wages,  sometimes  amounting  to  several  weeks' 
earnings,  were  withheld  by  employers  who  were 
obliged  under  the  law  to  act  as  withholding  agents  for 
non-resident  alien  workmen;  the  foreign  born  were 
unable  to  secure  receipts  or  records  of  taxes  they  had 
paid;  they  were  given  a  "blue  slip"  to  sign  (the  "Dec- 
laration of  Intention  of  Residence"  form),  which  meant 
to  their  minds  only  the  forcing  of  citizenship  upon 
them;  and,  finally,  thousands  of  foreign  born  were 
seriously  overtaxed,  due  largely  to  the  misunder- 
standing or  ignorance  of  collectors  and  employers. 

^  188 


APPENDIX  A 

The  anxiety  and  fear  of  the  foreign  born  were  only 
equaled  by  the  sense  of  injustice  being  done  them/ 
The  following  letter,  one  of  hundreds  of  its  sort,  gives 
a  slight  indication  of  the  situation: 

**I,  G K ,  beg  the  Russian  Section  to  help  me.    The 

Russian  immigrants  are  not  able  to  pay  the  taxes.  Some  time 
ago  I  read  in  the  papers  that  only  those  who  earned  more  than 
$i,ooo  a  year  have  to  pay  the  tax,  and  only  on  what  they  earned 
over  $i,ooo,  and  I  have  paid  $12.07.  But  now  in  the  factory 
they  withhold  more,  and  tell  that  I  must  pay  $145  for  the  last 
year,  and  if  I  have  to  pay  for  this  year  also,  I  will  have  to  pay 
more  than  $300.  And  so  I  have  to  work,  but  do  not  get  money 
to  live  on. 

"And  please  explain  to  me  why  they  force  us  to  take  Amer- 
ican papers.  Those  who  do  not  want  to  take  the  papers  are 
put  out  of  work.  And  if  I  take  the  papers  will  I  be  able  to  go 
back  to  Russia?  And  why  did  they  put  the  Russian  people  in 
such  a  helpless  position?  They  do  not  allow  us  to  return  to 
Russia,  and  here  it  is  now  impossible  to  live. 

"And  I  beg  the  Russian  Section  to  answer  my  prayer  and 
tell  me  what  is  going  to  become  of  the  Russian  immigrants.'* 

Through  revision  in  certain  forms  and  regulations 
and  administrative  procedure,  which  the  Service 
worked  out  with  the  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue, 
conditions  as  above  described  were  gradually  changed. 
Correct  classification  of  aliens  became  more  prevalent, 
withholding  procedure  better  understood,  lawful  ex- 
emptions were  granted,  and  refund  proceedings  for 
overpaid  taxes  were  started.  In  four  months'  time 
for  4,197  cases  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service  recovered  $203,852.45  in  overpaid  taxes. 

The  consequences  among  the  foreign  born  of  this 
income  tax  work  of  the  Service  is  summed  up  in  the 
following  letter  from  a  Pole  in  Cicero,  Illinois:  / 

**I  want  to  say  here  that  your  work  is  the  work  of  noble 
people  who  are  aiding  us  in  this  way,  and  that  it  will  remain  in 
my  memory  for  the  rest  of  my  life.  I  do  not  say  this  because 
of  the  few  dollars  I  received  as  a  refund,  but  because  0/  the  justice 
rendered  to  us  poor  Poles  by  your  Bureau." 

It  is  not  merely  the  material  results  obtained  by 
the  Service  in  solving  the  thousands  of  individual 
problems  that  give  its  work  so  far-reaching  an  influence 

189 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

among  the  foreign  born.  It  is,  as  the  writer  of  this 
letter  says,  the  recognition  by  the  Service  that  justice 
should  be  done  the  immigrant,  and  its  effort  to  make  the 
actual  experiences  of  the  foreign  born  square  with  the 
American  sense  of  fair  play. 

PROBLEMS 

February,  1920,  to  May,  1921 
Problems — 

Income  tax 5  .  330 

Passport 1 ,  659 

War  Risk  or  Bonus 693 

Immigration ^.953 

Emigration 2,311 

Naturalization i  ,685 

Exploitation 420 

Compensation 296 

Health 672 

Locating  relatives i  »4i5 

Sending  money,  letters,  and  packages  to 

Europe 270 

Relief 1 26 

Personal  problems 2 ,  42 1 

Unemployment 206 

*Others 2 ,  992 

Total  Number  of  Problems 23 ,449 

Total  Number  of  Problems  Settled. . .   20,646 

Foreign-Language  Organizations  and  Other 

Work 

A.     Foreign-Language  Organizations 

Thirty-five  thousand  foreign-language  organizations, 
national,  local  branches,  and  independent  local  so- 
cieties, cooperate  with  the  Foreign  Language  Informa- 
tion Service.  These  are  chiefly  benefit  and  insurance 
societies,  educational,  social,  musical,  and  dramatic 
organizations.  Both  through  correspondence  and  at- 
tendance at  conventions  and  meetings,  the  Section 
managers  maintain  close  contact  with  the  leaders  and 
members  of  these  organizations.    Releases  on  the  most 

*  Legal  matters,  divorce,  education,  and  Alien  Property  Cus- 
todian, etc. 

190 


APPENDIX  A 

important  Government  regulations,  rulings,  and  laws 
go  to  many  of  them.  They  circulate  these  among 
their  members,  read  them  at  meetings,  and  place  them 
on  their  bulletin  boards. 

The  foreign-language  organizations  are  a  most  im- 
portant factor,  not  only  in  reaching  their  vast  mem- 
bership, but  also  in  reaching  many  of  the  illiterate, 
who  are  not  able  to  benefit  by  the  foreign-language 
press.  As  an  illustration  of  how  effective  they  are  in 
this  respect,  may  be  quoted  the  following  from  a 
letter  of  the  president  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Clerical 
League: 

"From  the  day  when  the  Russian  Bureau  of  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service  has  been  organized,  I  have  been 
regularly  receiving  all  the  articles  and  releases  which  you  mailed. 
I  have  used  them  in  my  talks  to  the  Russians  of  this  city,  most 
of  them  uneducated  and  illiterate  people  who  cannot  read  and 
understand  newspapers,  and  I  have  found  them  to  be  of  very 
great  help  to  me.  I  would  like  to  continue  receiving  them  in 
the  future." 

2.  Information  Furnished  Foreign-Language  and  Other 
Organizations  and  Agencies 

During  the  fifteen-month  period — February,  1920, 
to  May,  1 92 1 — the  Service  has  taken  care  of  4,234  re- 
quests for  information.  These  came  from  two  general 
groups  of  applicants — native  born  and  foreign  born. 
The  majority  of  the  inquiries  from  native  born  came 
from  agencies  working  with  the  immigrant  and  from 
Government  departments.  Information  on  the  foreign- 
born  groups,  specific  difficulties  to  be  adjusted  for 
foreign-born  individuals,  methods  of  Americanization, 
and  information  on  European  conditions  are  the  sub- 
jects of  most  of  these  inquiries.  These  matters  are 
treated  more  fully  in  "Service  to  American  Agencies." 

Inquiries  from  the  foreign  born  are  largely  requests 
from  organizations  and  editors  for  specific  or  general 
information  on  naturalization,  immigration  laws,  and 
for  publications  in  foreign  languages  on  American 
history,  laws,  civics,  health,  and  educational  matters. 
Typical  of  hundreds  of  these  requests  is  the  following 

^^  191 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

from  the  president  of  the  Czechoslovak  Legion  in 
America : 

**If  you  receive  any  further  information  concerning  citizen- 
ship papers  or  naturalization  matters,  I  shall  always  be  most 
grateful  if  you  will  supply  these  to  me,  not  only  for  my  own 
information,  but  for  our  entire  Legion." 

3.  Travel 

One  of  the  most  potent  means  of  meeting  the  in- 
dividual needs  of  the  immigrant  is  through  the  visits 
the  managers  make  to  the  settlements  of  their  people. 
During  the  fifteen-month  period  280  of  these  trips 
were  made  by  fifteen  Foreign  Language  Section  man- 
agers. During  these  trips  meetings  are  frequently 
called  in  the  places  the  manager  visits  for  the  purpose 
of  conferring  with  him  about  group  problems  and  in- 
dividual difficulties.  One  manager  in  a  three-weeks' 
trip  to  Chicago  and  the  vicinity  held  nineteen  such 
gatherings,  at  which  he  thoroughly  explained  the 
income  tax  regulations  and  adjusted  individual  cases. 
Three  hundred  people  on  an  average  attended  these 
meetings.  Another  manager  went  to  Bridgeport  at 
the  request  of  a  foreign-language  editor  there.  The 
editor  arranged  for  a  hall,  and  over  five  hundred  people 
came  to  learn  about  the  income  tax  requirements. 
Two  hundred  individual  cases  were  assisted  in  filling 
out  blanks.  Thirty-two  conventions  were  attended  in 
the  same  fifteen-month  period.  The  managers  not 
only  spoke  at  these  conventions,  but  held  numerous 
conferences  with  various  delegates,  arranged  for  co- 
operation with  local  lodges,  and  learned  of  the  prob- 
lems and  needs  of  their  groups  in  the  various  sections 
of  the  country. 

4.  Lectufes 

During  the  first  two  years  of  its  work  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service  gave  in  Russian,  with 
great  success,  three  sets  of  important  lectures  on 
American  history.  Certain  foreign-speaking  groups  are 
reached  most  effectively  through  educational  work  of 

192 


APPENDIX  A 

the  lecture  type,  and  it  is  highly  important  that  their 
demands  for  this  be  met. 

5.     Foreign-Language  Publications 

It  should  be  noted  that  during  fifteen  months  1,465 
appeals  for  literature  have  come  to  the  Foreign  Lan- 
guage Information  Service.  They  are  coming  in  in- 
creasing numbers.  They  fall  under  two  general 
heads:  (a)  Requests  for  pamphlets  and  leaflets  giving 
practical  information  on  agriculture,  procedure  for 
ci:tizenship,  education,  child  welfare,  and  health;  (b) 
requests  for  books  in  foreign  languages  on  American 
history,  civics,  biographies  of  American  statesmen,  and 
other  informative  material. 

As  a  result  of  the  many  appeals  from  the  foreign- 
born  groups,  the  Service  has  printed  and  circulated 
95,000  pamphlets  in  Russian,  Ukrainian,  Hungarian, 
and  Polish  on  the  following  topics:  ''How  Americans 
Won  Their  Liberty;"  "Abraham  Lincoln;"  "How  to 
Take  Care  of  Your  Health;"  "America  in  War  and 
Peace;"  "A  Message  to  American  Hungarians,"  and 
"Venereal  Diseases,  and  How  to  Prevent  Them." 
The  most  important  piece  of  printed  matter  issued  by 
the  Service  during  the  past  year  is  "Education  in  the 
United  States,"  printed  in  Russian,  and  with  a  fore- 
word by  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education. 

Requests  are  constantly  coming  in  to  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service  in  greater  numbers 
from  American  agencies  and  persons  dealing  with  the 
foreign  born  for  this  same  sort  of  pamphlet.  The 
pamphlet  and  leaflet  work  along  these  strictly  educa- 
tional and  informative  lines  should  be  extended. 
What  has  been  done  is  scarcely  a  beginning  of  what  is 
needed.  Pamphlets  of  this  sort  should  be  sold  at  cost; 
leaflets  should  be  available  for  free  distribution. 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  has  been 
unable  to  meet  the  constant  requests  for  translations 
of  standard  books  on  civics,  American  history,  biog- 
raphy, and  similar  informative  material  because  of 
pressure  of  work  and  financial  limitations.    It  is  essen- 

193 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

tial  that  such  translations  be  made,  so  that  immi- 
grants eager  to  learn  about  American  education  can 
get  these  books  from  libraries,  private  agencies,  and 
their  own  organizations.  The  Service  is  peculiarly  well 
equipped  to  handle  such  work  successfully  because  of 
its  highly  trained  and  experienced  foreign-language 
staff. 

INQUIRIES 

February,  1920,  to  May,  1921 
Subjects — 

Income  Tax 87 

Passport 92 

War  Risk  or  Bonus 29 

Immigration 266 

Emigration 182 

Naturalization 160 

Request  for  Literature i  ,465 

Exploitation jj 

Compensation 11 

Health 34 

Personal  Problems 22 

♦Others i  ,809 

Total  Inquiries 4 ,  234 

Inquiries  From — 

Government  Departments 400 

Newspapers — foreign-language 392 

Employers 1 79 

Individuals 858 

**Other  Agencies 2,012 

Total  Applicants 3  ,841 

Interpretative  Work  with  the  Native  Born 

From  the  very  inception  of  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service  it  was  designed  that  interpreta- 
tion for  the  native  born  should  go  with  that  for  the 

*  Inquiries  about  Alien  Property  Custodian,  agriculture  and 
land  opportunities,  foreign-language  groups  in  the  country, 
European  contracts,  and  Americanization. 

**  Foreign-language  organizations.  Red  Cross,  and  other 
American  agencies.  State  and  municipal  departments.  State 
libraries.  State  departments  of  education,  diplomatic  and  con- 
sular offices. 

194 


APPENDIX  A 

foreign  born.  In  spite  of  this  original  intention,  it  has 
been  impossible  to  develop  that  phase  of  the  work 
which  deals  with  the  native  press  and  native  public 
as  fully  as  was  desired  or  as  is  necessary.  There  are 
several  reasons  for  this. 

First:  In  interpreting  the  immigrant  to  the  native 
press  and  to  the  public,  the  Service  has  been  obliged 
to  meet  a  directly  antagonistic  point  of  view.  The 
immigrant,  on  his  side,  is  open  to  conviction.  He 
wants  to  learn  the  truth.  The  intensive  campaign 
against  all  things  and  all  persons  foreign  carried  on 
for  the  last  two  years  has  resulted  in  the  erection  of  a 
barrier  of  determined  misunderstanding,  largely  on 
the  part  of  the  native  born.  It  has  been  difficult  to 
get  the  native  press  to  print  the  plain  truth  about 
the  alien,  because  that  truth  s  not  as  sensational  as 
the  anti-alien  propaganda  they  have  been  printing. 
It  is  difficult  to  make  the  public  believe  for  the  same 
reason.  The  average  native-born  citizen  is  firmly  con- 
vinced that  all  foreign-language  papers  are  violently 
and  seditiously  radical.  This  hysteria  is  beginning  to 
die  out,  but  it  is  dying  slowly.  To  break  down  this 
barrier  and  provide  a  reciprocity  of  understanding  and 
sympathy,  the  directly  interpretative  work  of  the 
Service  has  been  undertaken. 

Second:  The  need  of  the  foreign  born  was  more 
immediate  and  acute.  Information  to  them  often 
meant  life. 

Third:  The  mechanics  of  the  Service  have  been 
better  fitted  for  the  dissemination  of  information  to 
the  foreign  born  than  to  the  native  born.  Disregarding 
past  performance,  however,  it  is  very  evident  that  the 
situation  as  it  stands  contains  immense  potentialities 
for  expansion. 

The  work  of  interpreting  the  foreign  born  to  the 
native  born  has  proceeded  through  two  mediums — the 
American  Press  Section  and  the  incidental  service 
which  has  been  given  outside  agencies  and  individuals. 
For  a  discussion  of  this  last  phase  the  reader  is  referred 
to  that  section  of  this  summary  which  is  entitled 

195 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

"Service  to  American  Agencies,"  while  for  an  analysis 
of  the  work  of  the  American  Press  Section,  under  which 
the  major  portion  of  the  interpretative  work  properly 
and  naturally  comes,  the  following  will  suffice: 

The  American  Press  Section  is  the  clearing  house 
through  which  passes  all  material  used  in  the  endeavor 
to  inform  our  native-born  population  about  the  aliens 
of  the  United  States.  The  source  of  this  material  is 
the  fifteen  foreign-language  sections  who  keep  the 
American  Press  Section  supplied  with  copy,  which  is 
edited,  rewritten,  and  sent  out  to  the  American  press 
and  to  agencies  and  individuals  as  well. 

The  work  of  the  American  Press  Section  falls  under 
three  general  heads:  the  Editorial  Feature  Service,  the 
Clip-Sheet  Service,  and  the  Special  Article  Service. 

Editorial  Feature  Service 

In  March,  1920,  the  Section  started  to  issue  to  a 
well-known  syndicate  in  Washington,  D.  C,  a  weekly 
collection  of  translations  of  editorials  from  current 
issues  of  the  foreign-language  press.  The  object  in 
view  was  to  let  the  native-born  public  see  for  them- 
selves that  the  foreign-language  press  was  a  constructive 
element  in  the  community.  The  first  month  these 
editorials  numbered  only  twenty-eight,  but  the  quantity 
has  steadily  increased  until  the  high  mark  of  1 59  was 
reached  in  March,  1921,  an  increase  of  almost  500  per 
cent.  For  the  same  months  the  syndicate  used  seven 
and  thirty-seven,  respectively,  an  increase  of  almost 
430  per  cent.  The  editorials  used  in  March,  1920, 
contained  1,537  words,  and  those  of  March,  1921, 
7,700;  that  is,  four  times  as  many  words.  Altogether 
the  American  Press  Section  released  1,225  editorials  to 
the  syndicate,  of  which  363,  or  over  one  third,  have 
been  used.  Accepted  editorials  for  the  whoje  period 
contained  11,939  words,  and  were  distributed  to  over 
100  papers  throughout  the  country. 

Additional  editorials  are  frequently  sent  out  to 
newspapers,  such  as  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  the 
Chicago  Daily  News,  the  New  York  American,  and  the 

196 


APPENDIX  A 

Los  Angeles  Times,  etc.  If  they  appear  to  be  of  suffi- 
cient interest,  these  papers  reprint  them,  with  or  with- 
out editorial  comment. 

On  April  7,  1921,  an  arrangement  was  effected  with 
the  Executive  Offices  of  the  White  House  by  which  a 
symposium  of  editorial  comment  from  the  foreign- 
language  press  was  supplied  once  a  week  thereafter 
for  the  President's  information.  It  may  be  noted  that 
so  far  as  is  known  this  is  the  first  time  that  the  foreign- 
language  press  has  entered  the  White  House  doors. 
Excerpts  from  eighty-two  editorials  have  been  sub- 
mitted, totaling  17,160  words.  They  were  taken  from 
twenty-five  different  papers. 

Clip-Sheet  Service 

There  are  three  clip-sheets  sent  out  each  month. 
One  of  these  is  sent  to  the  individuals,  agencies,  and 
papers  in  New  York  State  only,  and  consists  of  ma- 
terial particularly  applicable  to  those  within  this  ter- 
ritory; another  is  like  the  first  in  form,  but  is  sent  to 
all  those  outside  New  York  State ;  and  the  third,  which 
is  known  as  the  "Organization  Clip-sheet,"  is  sent  to 
the  entire  mailing  list  without  exception.  The  first 
two  clip-sheets  consist  of  short  items  which  show 
whatever  constructive  work  the  immigrant  groups  or 
individuals  are  engaged  in.  These  items  are  almost 
never  "spot-news,"  but  an  effort  is  made  to  keep  them 
as  newsy  as  possible,  notwithstanding.  The  service  is 
designed  to  create  a  mutual  understanding  as  well  as 
to  offset  anti-alien  propaganda  by  the  presentation 
of  plain  facts.  The  third  clip-sheet  consists  of  a  state- 
ment by  each  one  of  the  fifteen  managers  of  the  foreign- 
language  Sections  on  the  salient  points  of  interest 
affecting  his  or  her  group  during  the  preceding  month. 
Through  this  clip-sheet  an  effort  is  made  to  place 
before  those  who  are  interested,  the  actual  results  of 
the  work  done  by  the  Service  as  a  whole.  Two  years 
ago  the  Service  issued  a  monthly  bulletin  or  report  on 
its  work  which  was  well  received,  but  which  suffered 
extinguishment.     This  last  clip-sheet  provides  a  sub- 

197 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

stitute  for  this  bulletin,  albeit  an  unsatisfactory  one. 
For  the  purpose  of  figuring,  we  may  take  the  three 
clip-sheets  as  a  single  unit.  This  shows  that:  The 
average  content  of  the  clip-sheet  for  the  first  three 
months  of  its  publication  was  thirty-four  items  averag- 
ing 145  words  apiece  for  each  month.  By  the  last 
three  numbers  this  had  advanced  to  forty-six  items  a 
month,  averaging  125  words.  Covering  a  period  of 
twelve  months,  the  American  Press  Section  issued 
twenty-five  clip-sheets  of  495  items  containing  a  total 
of  68,103  words. 

Special  Article  Service 

In  the  latter  part  of  March  contact  was  established 
with  several  news  syndicates  and  a  new  service  in- 
stituted which  enables  the  American  Press  Section  to 
release  feature  stories  somewhat  richer  in  detail  than 
the  clip-sheet  items.  So  far  six  of  these  stories  have 
been  released,  amounting  to  3,650  words. 

Since  November,  1920,  this  Section  has  had  articles 
published  totaling  about  22,000  words  on  various 
phases  of  the  work  of  this  organization  and  allied  sub- 
jects. In  addition  to  this,  data  for  articles  has  been 
supplied  to  several  writers  of  note. 

During  the  period  covered  by  this  report  the  Amer- 
ican Press  Section  has  released  considerably  in  excess 
of  200,000  words,  or  200  solid  newspaper  columns. 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  this  service  has  not 
only  proved  effective  in  its  direct  work  with  the  Amer- 
ican press,  but  has  likewise  been  of  distinct  use  in  en- 
couraging the  foreign-language  press  not  to  lose  faith. 
The  smallest  news  item,  as  well  as  the  most  important 
special  article,  is  received  by  the  foreign  born  with  an 
appreciation  that  is  tragic  in  its  indication  of  long 
years  of  misunderstanding. 

Service  to  American  Agencies 

Inevitably,  as  the  nature  of  the  work  and  the  strength 
of  the  position  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service  became  more  widely  known,  agencies  from  all 

198 


APPENDIX  A 

over  the  country  actively  participating  or  interested 
in  the  problems  of  assimilation  of  the  immigrant  pop- 
ulation began  to  appeal  to  the  Service  for  information 
and  assistance. 

It  has  always  been  the  policy  of  the  Service  to  assist, 
in  so  far  as  is  possible,  responsible  agencies  that  are 
carrying  out  a  constructive  program.  While  the 
Service  has  been  able  to  amass  a  great  quantity  of 
information  about  the  foreign  born  and  the  adjusting 
of  their  problems,  it  has  never  been  sufficiently  staffed 
to  permit  the  compilation  of  much  of  this  material  in 
form  suitable  for  distribution. 

Perhaps  the  largest  number  of  requests  has  been  for 
assistance  in  adjusting  the  problems  of  foreign-born 
individuals  from  agencies  not  equipped  to  handle  such 
work.  These  cases,  of  course,  have  been  taken  care  of 
as  part  of  the  fundamental  service  of  the  organization. 

Next  in  quantity  are  the  requests  for  literature. 
These  are  divided  roughly  into  three  classes:  Requests 
for  literature  in  foreign  languages  for  distribution  to 
foreign  born;  requests  for  pamphlets  about  the  foreign 
born;  and  requests  for  literature  about  the  organiza- 
tion and  work  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service. 

Besides  the  definite  requests  for  assistance  on  case 
work  and  for  literature,  many  inquiries  are  received 
for  general  information  about  the  immigrant  popula- 
tion, European  conditions,  immigration,  Americaniza- 
tion, Government  regulations  affecting  the  foreign  born, 
and  a  host  of  other  subjects,  many  of  which  would 
require  a  volume  to  answer. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  requests  are  received 
for  translations,  for  foreign  speakers  for  local  meet- 
ings, for  assistance  in  the  preparation  of  exhibitions, 
and  for  aid  in  the  preparation  of  articles  and  books. 

The  location  of  the  Service  at  the  major  port  of 
entry  for  immigrants  has  made  it  the  logical  organiza- 
tion for  inland  agencies  to  appeal  to  for  assistance  on 
immigration  cases.  Hardly  a  day  passes  that  does 
not  bring  such  a  request  from  organizations  like  the 

199 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Citizenship  Bureau  in  Cleveland,  the  American  Fellow- 
ship in  Buffalo,  or  the  Americanization  Society  of 
Grand  Rapids. 

The  preponderance  of  requests  come,  naturally,  from 
the  agencies  organized  to  work  with  the  foreign  born 
and  educational  institutions.  Among  the  many  to 
whom  effective  service  has  been  rendered  are:  the  Im- 
migrants* Commission  of  Illinois,  the  Child  Federation 
of  Philadelphia,  the  California  Commission  on  Immi- 
gration and  Housing,  National  Catholic  Welfare  Coun- 
cil, International  Institutes  of  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association,  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
New  York  State  Department  of  Education,  the  New 
York  Public  Library,  the  American  Library  Asso- 
ciation, the  National  Tuberculosis  Association,  Vassar 
College,  Interchurch  World  Movement,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Iowa. 

During  the  preparation  by  the  Carnegie  Corporation 
of  the  "Study  of  Methods  of  Americanization,"  the 
Service  was  able  to  give  to  the  director  of  the  study 
and  his  assistants  a  great  deal  of  specific  information 
on  the  immigrant  groups  and  their  particular  problems. 

Another  example  of  effective  cooperation  has  been 
with  the  American  Relief  Administration.  Numbers 
of  their  releases  explaining  the  "Food  Drafts"  were 
translated  and  sent  to  the  foreign-language  press,  in 
which  they  received  wide  publication.  Circulars  in 
foreign  languages  were  distributed  to  the  organiza- 
tions of  the  foreign  born.  Letters  from  Europe  re- 
questing the  location  of  relatives  who  might  assist 
their  families  were  translated  and  the  relatives  located. 

The  unique  position  of  the  Foreign  Language  In- 
formation Service  as  a  center  of  information  about  the 
foreign  born  has  been  recognized  by  numbers  of  educa- 
tional institutions.  State  departments  of  education, 
professors  in  universities,  libraries,  college  debating 
societies,  and  local  boards  of  education  have  appealed 
to  the  Service  for  general  and  specific  information  on 
the  immigrant  groups. 

Every  effort  has  been  made  to  fulfill  all  these  re- 

200 


APPENDIX  A 

quests,  but  the  extent  of  possible  cooperation  has  been 
limited.  Of  particular  interest  are  the  requests  from 
such  bodies  as  the  Department  of  Americanization  of 
the  University  of  Minnesota,  the  libraries  of  Chicago 
and  Illinois  Universities,  debating  societies  in  Wellesley 
and  Vassar  Colleges,  and  the  faculty  of  Political 
Science  of  Columbia  University.  Many  of  these  col- 
leges, schools,  and  libraries  have  requested  that  they 
be  placed  on  the  mailing  list  to  receive  the  daily 
foreign-language  press  releases.  Thirty  copies  of  these 
releases  are  used  by  the  New  York  Public  Library 
alone  to  place  in  its  branches  in  the  foreign-born 
quarters. 

The  National  Tuberculosis  Association  has  been  as- 
sisted in  the  translation  of  its  pamphlets  and  in  the 
distribution  of  its  educational  material  to  the  foreign- 
born  population. 

The  service  work  to  American  agencies  should  be 
further  developed.  Information  now  in  the  files  of 
the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service,  which  is 
being  constantly  augmented  and  brought  up  to  date, 
would  be  sufficient  to  fill  most  of  the  requests  re- 
ceived. Unfortunately,  this  material  is  not  readily 
available,  as  much  of  it  is  in  letters,  clippings,  and 
card  records.  By  classifying  and  analyzing  this  ma- 
terial and  compiling  it  in  printed,  multigraphed,  and 
mimeographed  form,  it  would  be  possible  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  interested  organizations  a  great  deal  of 
helpful  and  authoritative  information. 

Contacts  and  Cooperation  with  European 
Countries 

An  interesting  and  important  phase  of  the  work  of 
the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  lies  in  the 
field  of  international  connections  with  the  European 
press  and  with  official  and  private  agencies.  Many 
of  these  connections  the  section  managers  have  al- 
ready developed  and,  given  opportunity,  can  develop 
much  more  extensively. 

20 1 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Over  200  of  the  most  important  papers  in  Czecho- 
slovakia, Hungary,  Italy,  Jugoslavia,  Poland,  Norway, 
Sweden,  Lithuania,  Siberia,  Finland,  and  Latvia  use 
the  releases  of  the  foreign-language  sections.  Articles 
released  from  the  Bureaus  of  War  Risk  Insurance, 
Internal  Revenue,  Immigration,  Education,  the  De- 
partments of  State,  Agriculture,  Labor,  and  Com- 
merce are  the  most  widely  read.  The  sections  fre- 
quently receive  letters  from  persons  in  Europe,  saying 
that  they  have  seen  a  release  of  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service  in  a  local  European  paper,  and 
asking  for  more  information  of  the  sort  contained.  It 
appears,  oddly  enough,  that  data  of  this  type  is  more 
available  through  this  Service  than  through  the  Gov- 
ernment itself. 

Some  of  this  material  is  reprinted  by  the  European 
press  from  the  foreign-language  press  in  America,  but 
many  European  papers  are,  at  their  request,  on  the 
mailing  list  of  the  Foreign  Language  Information 
Service  for  its  Government  releases.  A  few  of  these 
papers  are  the  six  leading  Italian  dailies  of  Rome, 
Florence,  Milan,  and  Naples;  twenty-five  chief  papers 
in  Czechoslovakia,  and  twenty-two  in  Hungary.  The 
official  press  bureau  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Serbs, 
Croats,  and  Slovenes  in  Belgrade,  and  also  the  press 
bureau  of  the  provincial  governments  of  Slovenia, 
Croatia,  Ljubljana,  and  Belgrade  are  receiving  di- 
rectly the  regular  releases  of  the  Jugoslav  Section. 
The  newspapers  throughout  Jugoslavia  get  the  Jugo- 
slav Section  releases  from  these  agencies.  An  ex- 
change service  is  also  worked  out  with  the  important 
papers  of  Lithuania. 

Highly  appreciative  editorial  comment  of  the  work 
of  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  has  ap- 
peared in  many  papers  in  different  countries. 

Requests  for  information  and  cooperation  come  to 
the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  from  many 
government,  semi-official,  and  private  European  agen- 
cies. The  Lithuanian  Ministry  of  Internal  Affairs 
writes: 

202 


APPENDIX  A 

*The  Health  Department  of  the  Ministry  of  Internal  Affairs, 
which  has  charge  of  all  the  health  work  in  Lithuania,  requests 
you  to  kindly  send  us  all  the  pamphlets,  instructions,  releases, 
etc.,  you  have  and  which  you  issue  on  health." 

The  libraries  of  Helsingfors  University  and  Turun 
Suomal  University,  Finland,  have  requested  copies  of 
all  releases  of  the  Finnish  Section. 

The  Czechoslovak  Section  is  in  frequent  correspond- 
ence with  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  the  Ministry 
of  National  Defense,  the  Ministry  of  Education,  and 
the  Ministry  of  Social  Welfare,  of  the  Czechoslovak 
Republic,  and  with  the  Czechoslovak  National  Red 
Cross  and  Masaryk's  Academy  of  Labor. 

Many  of  these  agencies  have  offered  their  services 
to  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service. 

A  letter  from  the  Czechoslovak  Ministry  of  National 
Defense  reads: 

**We  are  in  receipt  of  your  several  communications  with 
reference  to  the  location  for  their  United  States  relatives  of 
Czechoslovak  soldiers  who  served  in  Russia,  Siberia,  Italy, 
France,  etc.,  and  also  to  secure  information  on  war  prisoners. 
We  have  already  reported  on  seven  recent  cases,  and  to-day  we 
take  pleasure  in  giving  you  definite  news,  as  in  appended  detailed 
reports.     .     .     ." 

(Six  cases  followed.) 

The  Samaritan  Section  of  the  Ukrainian  Citizens' 
Committee  writes: 

**We  have  been  referred  to  you  by  the  Ukrainian  Citizens' 
Committee  in  Lemberg,  and  it  is  with  much  pleasure  and  due 
appreciation  that  we  hear  of  the  work  your  bureau  is  doing. 

"We  are  writing  you  on  behalf  of  the  Samaritan  Section  of 
said  Committee,  which  performs  the  services  of  a  Ukrainian 
Red  Cross  in  Galicia,  and  we  are  most  anxious  to  enter  into 
connection  with  you,  so  much  the  more  as  some  of  our  interests 
seem  to  be  closely  bound  up  with  yours. 

"We  are  constantly  in  receipt  of  requests  from  people  who 
are  desirous  to  locate  their  relatives  and  friends  in  America, 
and  we  should  be  very  grateful  if  you  would  let  us  have  your 
advice  and  assistance  in  establishing  contacts  between  the 
Ukrainians  here  and  their  people  in  your  country. 

"We  can  supply  you  with  lists  of  Ukrainian  prisoners  in 
Poland  and  of  the  Ukrainian  soldiers  who  were  killed  in  Ukraine 

Z03 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

or  died  in  prison,  and  we  will  be  glad  to  give  you  any  information 
you  may  need. 

"We  feel  sure  that  our  organizations  can  be  of  mutual  aid  to 
each  other,  and  trust  you  will  be  able  to  favor  us  with  your 
cooperation." 

The  Hungarian  Section  has  adjusted  many  indi- 
vidual problems,  such  as  locating  relatives,  sending 
money  or  packages  to  Hungary,  postal  savings  de- 
posits in  cooperation  with  the  Hungarian  Post  Office 
Department,  the  Department  of  the  Treasury,  De- 
partment of  Commerce,  the  local  Hungarian  Police 
Departments,  and  the  Hungarian  Red  Cross  Mission 
in  Siberia. 

The  Central  Committee  of  the  Primorie  Zemstvo 
Union,  Vladivostok,  Siberia,  has  requested  Russian 
Section  releases  and  material  on  agriculture  and  health. 
The  Information  Service  of  the  Russian  Zemstvos  and 
Municipalities,  Committee  for  Refugees,  Paris,  writes: 

"Kindly  send  us  at  least  twenty  of  your  daily  bulletins  for 
1920  and  1 92 1.  We  will  use  these  to  a  great  advantage  and  dis- 
tribute them  among  our  branches  and  libraries.  We  will  also 
greatly  appreciate  if  you  will  send  us  in  Russian  or  English 
bulletins  or  pamphlets  on  the  questions  of  immigration,  health 
and  agriculture.  For  the  Russian  refugees  who  are  suffering 
at  the  present  time  throughout  Europe  and  who  are  making 
efforts  to  reestablish  themselves,  this  sort  of  information  is 
invaluable.  We  will  also  use  your  information  for  the  bulletin 
published  by  our  committee." 

The  General  Dutch  Association,  Netherland  Abroad, 
and  the  Immigrant  Society  of  Holland  are  in  close  and 
sympathetic  touch  with  the  work  of  the  Foreign  Lan- 
guage Information  Service  through  the  Dutch  section. 

Special  information  has  been  requested  of  the  Italian 
Section  by  the  Commissariat  of  Emigration  in  Italy, 
the  Italian  War  Department,  and  the  Italian  Red 
Cross. 

The  German  Red  Cross  and  two  large  societies  in 
Germany — the  German  Foreign  Institute  and  the 
German  Protective  League — have  appealed  to  the 
German  Section  for  information  on  immigration  laws 

204 


APPENDIX  A 

and  regulations  and  have  referred  to  it  Alien  Property 
Custodian  cases. 

The  Norwegian  minister  has  requested  the  Nor- 
wegian Section  to  assist  in  arranging  for  an  exchange 
of  educational  publications  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Department  of  Church  and  Public  Instruction 
of  Norway.  The  Norwegian  Section  is  also  in  close 
contact  with  the  Normansforbundet,  an  international 
organization  of  Norwegians  with  members  in  all  parts 
of  the  world. 

The  Jugoslav  Section  is  in  constant  touch  with 
twenty  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  Jugoslav 
educators,  statesmen,  and  publicists.  All  of  these  men 
have  given  much  publicity  to  the  work  of  the  Foreign 
Language  Information  Service  in  Jugoslavia. 

Through  relations  such  as  these,  much  helpful  and 
valuable  information  is  being  exchanged  between  the 
people  of  this  country  and  Europe. 

Finally 

We  are  faced  with  these  facts : 

There  are  3,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  who 
cannot  speak,  read,  or  write  English. 

There  are  3,000,000  more  who  are  best  reached 
through  the  medium  of  their  own  tongue. 

They  will  learn  English  and  become  citizens  only  if 
their  individual  experiences  square  with  our  ideal  of 
American  fair  play. 

The  first  step  must  be  this: 

We  must  inform  them  in  their  native  language  not 
only  of  their  obligations  and  responsibilities,  but  also 
of  their  rights  and  privileges  under  our  Government. 

The  more  they  understand  these,  the  greater  will  be 
their  interest  in  becoming  permanently  identified  with 
this  country,  in  learning  its  language  and  adopting  its 
customs. 

At  the  same  time,  the  native  born  must  be  fully  in- 
formed concerning  the  14,000,000  immigrant  popula- 

205 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

tion  of  America,  so  that  they  may  function  together 
understandingly. 

What  the  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  Does 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  takes 
this  first  step  in  the  process  of  assimilating  the  foreign 
born  and  educating  the  native  born  regarding  him. 
It  informs  the  foreign  born  in  his  own  language  about 
the  government  and  the  laws  of  this  country.  It  ex- 
plains what  the  Government  expects  of  him  and  what 
it  offers  him.  It  clears  up  his  misconceptions  and  ad- 
justs his  difficulties. 

It  also  keeps  in  close  and  constant  touch  with  the 
large  body  of  the  American  press  through  bulletins, 
clip-sheets,  special  stories  and  articles,  in  the  effort  to 
break  down  the  wall  of  misunderstanding  between  the 
native  and  the  foreign  born. 

How  It  Does  This 

The  Foreign  Language  Information  Service  works 
through  795  papers  of  the  foreign-language  press, 
35,000  foreign-language  organizations,  and  adjusts 
more  than  2,000  personal  cases  a  month.  It  has  sent 
out  95,000  pamphlets  in  Russian,  Ukrainian,  Hun- 
garian, and  Polish,  and  has  stimulated  lecture  service 
in  several  languages.  On  the  other  hand,  it  furnishes 
30,000  words  of  foreign-language  editorial  matter  to 
100  American  papers  monthly,  sends  5,000  words  of 
general  news  concerning  the  immigrant  population  to 
400  papers,  and  makes  accessible  authentic  data  con- 
cerning our  foreign  born  to  about  9,000  other  American 
periodicals. 


206 


APPENDIX  "B* 

Released  by  the  U.  S.  Committee  on  Public  Information 
INDEPENDENCE  DAY,  1918 


THE  BASIS  FOR  THE  GREAT  CELEBRATION  OF  THE 

FOREIGN  BORN  AND  THEIR  SONS  AND 

DAUGHTERS 


The  Petition  of  May  21,  19 18,  and  President 
Wilson's  Reply 

To  the  President  of  the  United  States: 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  the  founders  of  this  Republic 
began  the  movement  for  human  liberty  and  the  rights  of  nations 
to  govern  themselves.  One  hundred  and  forty-two  years  later 
we  find  the  world  democracy,  of  which  this  Nation  was  a  pioneer, 
formidably  assailed  by  the  powers  of  reaction  and  autocracy. 

We  represent  those  peoples  whose  sons  and  daughters  came 
to  this  land  later  than  the  founders  of  the  Republic,  but  drawn 
by  the  same  ideals.  The  nations  and  races  and  peoples  which 
we  represent  are  taking  their  part,  in  one  way  or  another,  in 
the  struggle.  Some,  happily,  enjoying  a  political  entity,  are 
fighting  openly  and  with  arms  against  the  enemies  of  progress. 
Others,  unhappily  submerged,  can  give  but  a  passive  opposition. 
Others  have  been  forced  against  their  will  into  the  armies  of 
the  common  enemy.  Finally,  a  few  still  remain  outside,  hard 
pressed,  threatened  by  the  mailed  fist,  dreading  alike  to  be 
drawn  in  and  to  be  found  apart  from  the  rest  when  the  hour  of 
settlement  arrives.  But  all,  through  infinite  suffering,  struggle 
either  blindly  or  open-eyed  toward  the  same  end — the  right  of 
peoples  to  govern  themselves  as  they  themselves  see  fit,  and  a 
just  and  lasting  peace. 

The  higher  interests  of  the  races  which  we  left  behind  have 
become  identical,  in  this  significant  year,  with  the  higher  in- 
terests of  the  United  States.  We  regard  ourselves  now  not  only 
as  members  of  an  American  commonwealth,  one  and  indi- 
visible, but  of  a  world  commonwealth,  equally  indivisible. 
United  for  the  principles  of  that  democratic  world-state  which 
is  fighting  now  for  its  being  on  the  battlefields  of  Europe,  we 
intend  on  July  4,  19 18,  to  manifest,  by  special  celebrations,  our 
loyalty  to  this  country  and  to  the  cause  for  which  we  fight ;  and 
we  respectfully  request   that   you  call   the  attention  of  your 

^^  207 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

fellow  citizens  to  this  fact,  in  order  that  they  may  join  with  us 
in  commemorating  this,  the  anniversary  not  only  of  national 
freedom  but  of  universal  freedom. 
Signed  for  the: 

Armenians 

American  National  Union  of  America,  by  Mi  ran  Sevasly, 
chairman,  and  Vochan  Chookagian,  secretary. 

Armenian  National  Union  Branch  of  New  York,  by  Z.  Mat- 
ikias,  chairman. 

Assyrians 
Assyrian  Association  of  America,  by  Joel  E.  Werda,  president. 

Belgians 
Belgian- American  National   Alliance,   by  Felix  J.   Streyck- 
mans,  president. 

Chinese 

Chinese  Nationalist  League  of  America,  by  Chan  Pe  Kiang, 
president. 

Chinese-American  Citizens'  Association,  New  York. 
Chinese  Free  Masons,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Chinese  Six  Companies,  San  Francisco,  California. 
Native  Sons  of  Golden  State,  San  Francisco,  California. 

CZECHOSLAVS    (BOHEMIANS,    MORAVIANS,    SiLESIANS,    SlOVAKS) 

Czechoslovak  National  Council,  by  Jaroslav  Cisar,  secretary. 

Danes 
Members  of  Executive  Commission:    Dr.  Max  Henius,  Carl 
Antonsou,  John  C.  Christensen,  and  Henry  L.  Hertz. 
League  of  Patriotic  Service,  by  Jacob  A.  Riis. 

Dutch 

Of  Muskegon,  Michigan,  by  Hon.  Benjamin  A.  Oosterbaan, 
Henry  A.  Langeland,  and  Rev.  John  Dolfin. 

Of  Holland,  Michigan,  by  Hon.  Gerrit  J.  Dickema,  Mayor 
Nicodemus  Bosch,  Gerrit  J.  Van  Scheven,  Henry  Holkeboer, 
and  Rev.  Edward  J .  Took. 

Of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  by  Jacob  Steketee,  Cornelius 
Dosker,  Rev.  John  Groen,  and  Rev.  Henry  Beets. 

Finns 

Finnish  Aid  Society  Imatra,  by  Vaino  Jaivi,  secretary. 
Finnish  Golgotha  Congregational  Church,   by  John  Laine, 
secretary  Board  of  Trustees. 

Ladies  of  Kaleva,  by  Sara  Rayhy,  secretary. 

Z08 


APPENDIX  B 

French 

General  Association  of  the  Alsatians  and  Lorrainers  of  America, 
by  Hon.  Daniel  Blumenthal,  president. 

Federation  of  the  French  Alliances  of  the  United  States. 

French  Institute  in  the  United  States. 

Federation  of  the  French  Societies  of  New  York. 

Federation  of  French  Alliances,  by  Louis  Delamarre,  general 
secretary. 

Societe  Frangaise  de  Bienfaisance,  by  Lucien  Jouvaud, 
president. 

French  Canadians 
French  Canadian  Society  of  New  York. 

Germans 
Friends  of  German  Democracy,  by  Franz  Siegel,  president, 

Greeks 
Greek-American   National   Union,    by   D.   J.    Theophilatos, 
chairman  Executive  Committee,  and  Nicholas  L.  Bistis,  sec- 
retary. 

American-Hungarian  Loyalty  League,  by  Alexander  Konta, 
chairman. 

Italians 
The  Roman  Legion  of  America,  by  Dr.  Antonio  Stella,  pres- 
ident. 

Japanese 

Japanese  Association  of  Southern  California,  by  Noriyuki 
Toyama,  president. 

Japanese  Association  of  New  York,  by  Reitaro  Ichinoneia, 
president. 

Japanese  Association  of  Chicago,  by  Tomihoi  Maruyama, 
president. 

Japanese  Association  of  America,  San  Francisco,  by  George 
Shima,  president. 

Lithuanians 

Lithuanian  National  Council,  by  Charles  V.  Chesnul,  sec- 
retary. 

Norwegians 
Sons  of  Norway,  by  L.  Stevenheim,  supreme  secretary. 
Mangus  Swenson. 

Poles 
Polish  National  Department,  by  Henry  Setmajer,  secretary. 

Portuguese 
Supreme  Lodge  L  D.  E.  S.,  San  Francisco,  California. 

209 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Roumanians 
The  Roumanian  National  League,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  by  Dr. 
D.  Moldovan. 

Russians 
Russkoye  Slovo,  by  Leo  Pasvolsky. 

South  Slavs  (Croats,  Serbs,  Slovenes) 
South   Slavic   National    Council,    by  John   J.    Grgurevich, 
secretary. 

Swedes 

John  Ericsson  League  of  Patriotic  Service,  by  Harry  Olsen, 
president,  and  Harry  Lund,  vice-president. 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod,  by  Gus  Brandelle, 
acting  president. 

Metropolitan  District  Council  of  John  Ericsson  League,  by 
Peter  Hanson,  chairman 

Swiss 
New  York  Swiss  Club,  by  Ulrich  Eck,  president. 

The  President's  reply  follows: 

To  Our  Citizens  of  Foreign  Extraction: 

I  have  read  with  great  symapthy  the  petition  addressed  to 
me  by  your  representative  bodies  regarding  your  proposed  cel- 
ebration of  Independence  Day;  and  I  wish  to  convey  to  you,  in 
reply,  my  heartfelt  appreciation  for  its  expressions  of  loyalty 
and  good  will.  Nothing  in  this  war  has  been  more  gratifying 
than  the  manner  in  which  our  foreign-bom  fellow  citizens,  and 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  foreign  bom,  have  risen  to  this 
greatest  of  all  national  emergencies.  You  have  shown  where 
you  stand,  not  only  by  your  frequent  professions  of  loyalty  to 
the  cause  for  which  we  fight,  but  by  your  eager  resF>onse  to  calls 
for  patriotic  service,  including  the  supreme  service  of  offering 
life  itself  in  battle  for  justice,  freedom,  and  democracy.  Before 
such  devotion  as  you  have  shown  all  distinctions  of  race  vanish, 
and  we  feel  ourselves  citizens  in  a  Republic  of  free  spirits. 

I  therefore  take  pleasure  in  calling  your  petition,  with  my 
hearty  commendation,  to  the  attention  of  all  my  fellow  country- 
men, and  I  ask  that  they  unite  with  you  in  making  the  Inde- 
pendence Day  of  this,  the  year  when  all  the  principles  to  which 
we  stand  pledged  are  on  trial,  the  most  significant  in  our  national 
history. 

As  July  4,  1776,  was  the  dawn  of  democracy  for  this  Nation, 
let  us  on  July  4,  19 18,  celebrate  the  birth  of  a  new  and  greater 
spirit  of  democracy,  by  whose  influence,  we  hope  and  believe, 
what  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  dreamed  of 

210 


APPENDIX  B 

for  themselves  and  their  fellow  countrymen  shall  be  fulfilled  for 
all  mankind. 

I  have  asked  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  to  co- 
operate with  you  in  any  arrangements  you  may  wish  to  make 
for  this  celebration. 

WooDROW  Wilson. 


Speech  of  Felix  J.  Streychmans 

Representing  the  Belgian-Americans,  and  Chairman  of 

the  Committee  of  the  Foreign  Born,  at  Mount 

Vernon,  July  4,  igi8 

Mr.  President  and  Members  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps: 

To  this  shrine  of  the  American  people,  to  the  mortal 
remains  of  the  man  who,  more  than  any  other,  gave 
the  American  ideal  life  and  form,  we  have  come  to- 
day, bearing  our  humble  tribute  as  citizens  of  the 
Great  Republic.  You  yourself,  Mr.  President,  have 
acceded  to  our  request  that  this  Independence  Day  be 
designated  as  a  festival  of  loyalty  on  the  part  of  our 
foreign-born  citizens  and  of  their  sons  and  daughters. 
It  is  for  me,  representing  this  committee  of  pilgrims,  to 
tell  you  what  it  means  to  us. 

One  hundred  and  forty-two  years  ago  to-day  a  group 
of  men,  animated  with  the  same  spirit  as  that  of  the 
man  who  lies  here,  founded  the  United  States  of 
America  on  the  theory  of  free  government  with  the 
consent  of  the  governed.  That  was  the  beginning  of 
America.  As  the  years  went  on,  as  one  century  blended 
with  another,  men  and  women  came  from  even  the  utter- 
most ends  of  the  earth  to  join  them.  We  have  called 
them  alien,  but  they  were  never  alien.  Though  they 
spoke  not  a  word  of  the  language  of  this  country, 
though  they  groped  only  dimly  toward  its  institutions, 
they  were  already  Americans  in  soul,  or  they  would 
never  have  come. 

We  are  the  latest  manifestations  of  that  American 
soul.  And  scarcely  had  we  settled  ourselves  into  the 
structure  of  this  dear  country  of  our  adoption  when  we 
found  the  spirit  of  Washington,  now  blazing  up  to 

211 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

be  the  guiding  light  of  twenty  great  nations,  assailed 
as  never  before  by  the  sinister  forces  of  reaction. 
Autocracy  in  its  most  murderous  form  had  gathered 
itself  for  its  final  struggle.  With  the  soul  of  Washington 
leading  on,  America  entered  the  battle  line,  and  we 
in  a  spirit  of  solemn  gladness  entered  with  her. 

We  who  make  this  pilgrimage  are  the  offspring  of 
thirty-three  different  nations — and  Americans  all.  We 
come  not  alone.  Behind  us  are  millions  of  our  people, 
united  to-day  in  pledging  themselves  to  the  cause  of 
this  country  and  of  the  free  nations  with  which  she  is 
joined.  In  my  own  city  eight  hundred  thousand  for- 
eign-born men  and  women  are  at  this  moment  lifting 
their  hands  and  renewing  their  vows  of  loyalty.  From 
coast  to  coast,  in  city,  town,  and  hamlet,  our  citizens 
will  be  demonstrating  that  the  oath  which  they  took 
upon  their  naturalization  was  not  an  empty  form  of 
words.  Yes,  and  more  than  that.  When  to-morrow 
the  casualty  list  brings  heaviness  to  some  homes  and 
a  firm  sense  of  resolution  to  all,  we  shall  read  upon  the 
roll  of  honor  Slavic  names,  Teutonic  names,  Latin 
names,  Oriental  names,  to  show  that  we  have  sealed 
our  faith  with  the  blood  of  our  best  youth. 

To  this  beloved  shade  we  come  to-day  with  the 
hopes  of  our  races  garnered  in  our  hands.  To  you, 
worthy  successor  of  our  greatest  liberator,  we  give  the 
promise  of  the  millions  who  sent  us  here  that  we  will 
persevere  in  the  struggle  until  lasting  freedom  is  se- 
cured not  only  for  this  nation,  but  for  the  nations  from 
which  we  sprang — and  for  all  the  other  nations.  The 
sword  which  we  have  grasped  we  will  not  lay  down 
until  the  dream  of  Washington  and  of  his  great  gen- 
eration be  fulfilled  for  us,  for  our  American  sons  and 
daughters,  and  for  a  whole  suffering,  struggling  world. 


212 


APPENDIX  ''C  i 

Mr.  Edward  Hale  Bierstadt, 
New  York  City. 

Dear  Sir: 

Permit  me  to  make  a  few  comments  concerning  the 
pseudo-Americanization  of  the  North  American  Civic 
League  for  Immigrants,  and  that  I  may  say  as  a  former 
worker  of  the  League  I  have  been  long  waiting  and 
collecting  data  for  someone  not  myself  to  disclose  the 
real  purpose  of  this  organization.  My  own  position  is 
most  delicate.  I  am  a  foreigner,  and  as  such  dare  not 
to  criticize  American  institutions,  and,  moreover,  I 
have  paid  my  price  for  personal  liberty  and  self- 
expression. 

'To  protect  immigrants  and  resident  aliens  and  to 
interest  and  instruct  them  in  American  ideals  and  re- 
quirements of  American  citizenship:"  That  to  me, 
a  young  collegiate  student  and  an  immigrant,  seemed 
all  too  noble  and  most  social  spirited.  That  was  long 
before  Americanization  became  a  fad,  a  slogan  for  the 
press,  professional  Americanizers,  and  worthy  pa- 
triots. Moreover,  these  noble  words  came  from  his- 
toric Boston,  the  seat  of  American  culture  and  tradi- 
tion. Skeptical  I  was  just  a  little,  having  learned  to 
question  in  my  native  land,  but  in  spite  of  it  I  was 
determined  to  try  to  learn  for  myself  the  good  and 
evil  of  such  organizations. 

My  active  affiliations  with  the  League  began  some 
five  years  ago  in  a  small  industrial  center  in  Connec- 
ticut. I  was  there  in  answer  to  a  special  wire  from  the 
headquarters  to  report  at  once.  Great  were  my  an- 
ticipations and  earnestness  of  purpose  "to  do  my  bit." 
Here  was  my  chance  to  put  into  practice  all  that  I 

^  See  page  io6,  Chapter  XI. 

213 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

had  learned  in  the  lecture  room,  and  all  that  my  pro- 
fessors inspired  in  me,  and  all  that  I  held  sacred  and 
noble. 

The  immediate  contact  upon  my  arrival  at  the  des- 
ignated place  was  not  too  inspiring.  I  was  greeted  by 
a  stupid  and  narrow-minded  general  organizer  and  a 
few  foreign  agents  who  were  not  his  superiors  mentally 
nor  spiritually.  I  shrank  before  my  task,  for  it  was 
to  begin  with  Americanizing  or  rather  humanizing  the 
Americanizers,  and  in  that  I  knew  I  would  not  suc- 
ceed. Consequently  instead  of  intelligent  cooperation 
and  mutual  understanding  there  arose  discord,  petty 
jealousy,  and  utter  lack  of  solidarity  and  one  great 
purpose. 

It  took  me  a  few  days  to  assimilate  myself  and 
reconcile  to  the  situation;  however,  I  was  determined 
not  to  give  up,  though  my  difficulties  increased  and 
my  idealism  undermined.  Concrete  demands  were 
made  of  me  as  a  paid  worker,  but  the  most  drastic 
ones  I  tactfully  evaded.  My  position  became  most 
critical  and  most  unpleasant.  The  foreign  born  re- 
belled against  my  interference ;  rumors  began  to  spread 
that  we  were  the  hired  agents  of  local  manufacturers 
(our  chief  financial  support  did  come  from  that  source) ; 
loud  criticism,  distrust,  and  even  hatred  spread  like 
wildfire  over  the  entire  foreign  colony. 

I  plunged  into  the  strife,  mediating,  but  not  defend- 
ing nor  justifying  too  strenuously  the  purpose  of  the 
League,  or  at  least  some  of  its  tactics,  which  by  this 
time  misled  me  no  more.  I  was  simply  using  my 
every  opportunity  to  do  my  utmost  in  spite  of  all 
adversities.  I  weighed  the  question  pro  and  con,  and 
argued  with  myself,  Would  it  not  be  for  the  general 
good  for  me  to  continue  my  service  rather  than  yield 
my  position  to  some  unscrupulous,  indifferent  agent? 
But  my  position  and  justification  were  not  so  clear  to 
my  friends  and  my  opponents;  to  them  I  was  a  traitress, 
a  social  outcast. 

The  foreign  colony  was  large,  its  needs  and  abuses 
striking,   its  ignorance  and  superstition  startling,   its 

214 


APPENDIX  C 

helplessness  wringing  the  heart  and  arousing  the 
keenest  sympathy.  And  with  each  new  call  to  calm  a 
"troubled  district"  I  answered  most  resignedly,  feeling 
myself  a  martyr  or  a  hypocrite,  but  I  made  a  sacred 
vow  to  persist  and  learn  all  I  was  permitted. 

Open  opposition  leading  almost  to  riots  at  our  public 
gatherings  rapidly  increased;  scorn,  ridicule,  and  even 
threats  spread  broadcast;  fake  rumors  and  deliberate 
lies  circulated  freely  about  our  shady  characters  and 
our  ill  designs.  Foreign  press  published  open  letters 
from  its  subscribers  misinterpreting  our  work  and  aim. 
And  when  there  was  not  a  loyal  friend  left  who  did  not 
question  my  integrity  or  criticize  my  affiliation,  I 
knew  it  was  high  time  to  quit  lest  I  really  succumb. 

But  my  reward  was  satisfying!  In  the  twelve 
months  of  my  most  painstaking  service  I  have  learned 
and  gathered  enough  data  to  last  a  lifetime  study. 
I  learned  sociology  such  as  I  had  never  been  taught  in 
school;  philanthropy  and  organized  charity  were  no 
mere  high-sounding,  noble  words.  And  when  I  out- 
lined my  criticism  of  the  League  and  its  activities,  I 
could  sustain  my  every  statement  with  facts  and  per- 
sonal experience,  and  I  learned  where  to  draw  a  line 
between  facts  and  rumors,  and  I  learned  whom  to 
charge  with  ill  designs,  and  whom  to  pity  for  lack  of 
character  or  sheer  stupidity. 

What  is  true  Americanization?  I  have  not  learned 
to  this  day.  Your  definition  suits  me,  but  how  ab- 
stract! Have  you  tried  to  apply  it  or  at  least  realize 
it  in  part  ?^  I  gave  up  my  work  for  Americanization, 
stirred  with  doubts,  contempt,  and  absolute  indiffer- 
ence to  any  social  experiment  directed  in  that  channel. 
And  if  I  had  moral  strength  to  regain  my  faith,  would 
I  find  a  place  in  this  all-too-efficient  patriotic  move- 
ment? For  most  Americanizing  agencies  are  too  well 
organized,  in  that  they  all  arrive  at  a  mutual  agree- 

^  I  referred  the  writer  to  the  work  of  the  Foreign  Language 
Information  Service. 

What  a  terrible  indictment  this  letter  is,  not  only  of  an  or- 
ganization, but  of  a  system. — E.  H.  B. 

215 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

ment  as  to  who  is  fit  or  unfit  to  Americanize,  to  per- 
form this  sacred  function  of  our  democratic  institu- 
tions. War  has  intensified  pseudo-Americanization, 
and  a  perfect  era  of  great  loyalty,  loo  per  cent  Ameri- 
canism, and  "law  and  order"  reigns  supremely.  How 
can  a  foreigner  find  a  place  in  such  a  well-ordered, 
prosperous,  and  democratic  society? 

Not  knowing  you  personally  or  being  acquainted 
with  your  work,  judging  chiefly  by  your  articles  in  the 
New  Republic,  I  trust  in  your  integrity  and  sound 
judgment.  I  ask  you  not  to  use  my  name  in  any 
publication  or  public  address,  for  I  have  stated  above 
I  paid  my  price  and  should  not  like  to  play  a  role  of 
martyr.  Society  at  its  best  may  not  deserve  such  a 
sacrifice  and,  moreover,  it  would  be  futile. 

(Signed) . 

In  contrast  to  the  foregoing  letter  the  following  is  of 
interest.  This  letter,  like  the  other,  speaks  for  itself. 
It  is  truly  instructive  to  obtain  this  insight  of  an 
American  schoolgirl's  mental  processes.  The  italics 
are  mine. — E.  H.  B. 

Spring  Lake,  N.  J.,  November  29,  1921. 
"Dear  Professor: 

"Your  letter  rec'd  and  contents  noted  carefully.  The  in- 
formation I  would  like  very  much  to  obtain  is  based  on  'The 
Slay  Language.'  You  see,  I  am  preparing  a  Thesis  for  High 
School  graduation,  and  my  topic  is  ^The  Vehicle  of  Bolshevism,' 
which  means  wherever  the  Slav  Tongue  is  spoken  Bolshevism  can 
be  found.  So  if  you  can  give  me  any  information  about  where 
Bolshevism  is  found,  or  anything  about  the  Slav  tongue  in 
America  or  Europe,  I  shall  appreciate  it  very  much. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Marion  ." 


216 


APPENDIX  **D'' 

NOTE  I 

The  official  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  on  January 
31,  1922,  showed  the  following: 


The  yearly  quota  for  the  fol- 

Number of 

lowing  countries  has  been 

Aliens  Still 

Country  or  place 

exhausted. 

Admissible! 

of  birth. 

Africa 

92 

Armenia 

Atlantic  Islands 

51 

Albania 

Australia 

4,806 

Austria 

Bulgaria 

50 

Belgium 

Greece 

797 

Czechoslovakia 

Hungary- 

236 

Danzig 

Jugoslavia 

3,620 

Denmark 

Other  Asia 

2,067 

Finland 

Other  Europe 

65 

Fiume 

Palestine 

^,345 

France 

Poland 

5^,744 

Germany 

Portugal 
New  Zealand 

100 

Italy 

4 

Luxemburg 

Spain 

2,067 

Netherlands 

Syria 

9.145 

Norway 

Turkey  and  Smyrna  District 

Pacific  Islands 

367 

Roumania 

18,938 

Russia 

14,603 

Sweden 

1,374 

Switzerland 

50,623 

United  Kingdom 

Yearly  quotas  exhausted 16  nationalities 

Under  100  remaining  of  quota 6  *' 

Over  50,000  remaining  of  quota 2  (United  Kingdom  and 

Germany) 


^  These  quotas  will  be  exhausted  before  this  book  is  published. 


217 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

NOTE  2 

Two  Editorials  from  the  Foreign-Language  Press 
ON  THE  3  Per  Cent  Restriction  Law 

The  Administration  of  the  Immigration  Law 

It  appears  that  at  bottom  it  is  merely  indolence  on  the  part 
of  the  law  makers  and  the  executives  which  is  responsible  for 
the  inhuman  treatment  meted  out  to  immigrants  at  the  p>orts 
of  immigration.  There  is,  for  instance,  the  provision  that 
nationality  is  determined  by  the  place  of  birth  and  not  by  the 
allegiance  of  the  immigrant.  That  provision  is  very  onerous 
for  such  German  citizens  as  were,  for  instance,  bom  in  the 
territory  ceded  to  Poland  and  afterwards  went  to  live  in  Germany 
temporarily  in  order  to  emigrate  to  America.  The  immigra- 
tion authorities  can  exclude  such  Germans  by  calling  them 
Poles,  since  the  Polish  quota  is  exhausted  for  the  current  fiscal 
year. 

Among  the  cases  of  hardship  the  following  may  be  cited: 
Mr.  Mueller,  a  man  of  excellent  character,  who  has  lived  in 
Berlin  since  his  childhood,  started  on  his  voyage  to  America, 
provided  with  a  German  passport  and  all  the  necessary  vises. 
Closely  interrogated  by  the  immigration  officer,  he  gave  all  the 
details  demanded  from  him,  and  stated,  among  other  things, 
that  he  was  bom  at  Neustadt,  a  place  which  is  now  called  Wejhe- 
rowo,  and  which  has  been  ceded  to  Poland.  The  result  was 
that  the  German,  Mueller,  is  sent  back  to  Germany — because 
the  Polish  quota  is  exhausted.  Another  case:  A  German  who 
resided  in  the  United  States  before  the  War  married  a  native 
American  girl,  and  raised  two  children.  He  was  bom  in  Poland, 
and,  to  complete  his  misfortune,  he  never  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing American  citizenship.  When  war  broke  out  he  was  in  Ger- 
many, and  he  now  desires  to  return  to  the  United  States.  He 
finds  himself  in  the  following  predicament:  His  wife  and  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  were  bom  in  this  country,  cannot  be  refused 
admission,  but  the  father  cannot  be  admitted;  for,  though  he  is 
a  German  citizen,  he  was  bom  in  Poland,  and  the  Polish  quota 
is  exhausted.  Cruelties  of  that  kind  occur  too  frequently,  but 
are  reported  in  the  press  very  rarely.  The  existing  immigration 
law  is  cruel  enough,  and  it  is  superfluous  to  carry  it  out  with 
that  barbaric  stupidity  which  seems  to  reign  at  the  immigration 
stations  at  the  present  time. — (Translated  from  Philadelphia 
Tageblatt;  published  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  November 
22,  1921.) 

Restriction  Run  Mad 

Our  immigration  laws  were  originally  designed  to  keep  out 
of  the  country  those  who  might  be  a  source  of  danger.  They 
were  never  meant  to  be  applied  to  those  who  seek  the  help  of 

218 


APPENDIX  D 

our  skillful  physicians  and  surgeons.  Yet  here  is  a  case  in  which 
a  boy  may  die  because  the  immigration  authorities  at  Ellis 
Island  are  more  intent  upon  red  tape  than  upon  being  human 
beings : 

Manuel  Salones,  a  seven-year-old  lad  from  Colon,  Panama, 
arrived  with  his  father  last  Friday  for  the  purpose  of  under- 
going an  operation  at  the  hands  of  a  brain  specialist  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  father  carried  letters  from  William  Jennings 
Price,  the  American  Minister  to  Panama,  and  from  Dr.  R.  W. 
Runyan  and  Dr.  J.  J.  Vallamio,  resident  physicians  of  the 
Herrick  Clinic  in  Panama  City,  stating  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
life  or  death,  and  asking  that  the  examination  of  the  boy  be 
expedited,  so  that  he  might  proceed  to  Philadelphia  without 
delay.  The  lad  is  still  at  Ellis  Island,  waiting  to  be  examined 
by  the  doctors.  Assistant  Immigrant  Commissioner  R.  H. 
Landis  says  that  he  is  quite  willing  to  stretch  a  point  and  hurry 
matters  in  this  case,  but  that  he  could  take  no  action  until  the 
boy's  condition  had  been  determined. 

It  is  well  known  that  thousands  of  Americans  go  abroad  in 
search  of  health.  They  flock  to  Europe,  seeking  relief  from 
maladies  and  chronic  diseases.  Supposing  any  country  acted 
toward  any  of  these  as  the  Ellis  Island  authorities  act  toward 
this  poor  boy,  what  a  howl  there  would  go  up!  And  we  would 
be  right.  It  is  inhuman  to  stand  in  the  way  of  any  being  in  search 
of  health,  between  any  human  being  and  the  physician's  care 
and  attention.  The  boy  is  not  going  to  remain  in  this  country 
permanently.  The  father  wants  to  get  back  home  as  soon  as 
possible.  That  boy  should  have  been  permitted  to  proceed 
immediately  upon  his  arrival  to  Philadelphia,  where  a  great 
brain  specialist  may  save  his  life. 

What  earthly  harm  can  that  poor  little  boy  do  to  the  United 
States?  Will  he  plot  against  the  government?  Will  he  seek  to 
overthrow  the  Constitution?  It  is  not  only  ridiculous;  it  is 
almost  criminal.  We  talk  of  ending  war,  of  bringing  about  an 
era  of  brotherhood,  and  here  we  deny  a  seriously  sick  lad  of 
seven  years  the  right  of  every  human  being  to  health  and  happi- 
ness. It  is  restriction  run  mad;  it  is  red  tape  run  riot.  The  sur- 
geon waits,  but  red  tape  holds  the  boy.  What  becomes  of  our 
boasted  humanity? 

By  such  ruling  the  law  is  brought  into  disrepute.  The  remedy 
is  a  clear  definition  by  Congress  of  just  how  far  this  law  can  go. 
(Translated  from  The  Jewish  Daily  News;  published  in  New 
York  City,  November  28,  1921.) 


219 


APPENDIX  '*F* 
NOTE  I 

Books  on  Americanization* 

Americanization  literature,  if  so  it  can  be  called  (for 
indeed  the  greater  number  of  books  coming  under  this 
head  make  little  or  no  claim  to  any  literary  value), 
has  in  the  past  been  divided  largely  into  two  classes — 
works  of  the  propagandist  and  of  the  sentimentalist. 
Of  concrete  information  there  has  been  little. 

In  the  first  class  come  the  arguments  for  and  against 
immigration,  studies  with  an  industrial  bias  of  one 
kind  or  another,  and  those  books  which  are  more  or 
less  frankly  prejudiced  in  their  view  on  the  alien  as 
such.  These  are  all  books  of  special  pleading.  They 
all  have  an  ulterior  motive,  and  so  are  to  be  taken  with 
the  proverbial  grain  of  salt.  In  some  instances  the 
motive  is  the  desire  of  the  employer  for  more  unskilled 
labor ;  in  some  it  is  the  fear  of  the  rabid  anti-radical  of 
all  foreigners;  in  others  one  may  discern  a  wish  to  in- 
fluence either  the  immigrant  himself  or  the  point  of 
view  of  the  public  toward  him  from  a  religious,  a  social, 
or  a  political  angle. 

The  second  class  is  more  obvious.  In  it  may  be 
placed  not  a  few  of  those  books  written  by  immigrants 
or  pseudo-immigrants.  This  is  background  material, 
desirable  perhaps  as  correlative  reading,  but  intrin- 
sically of  little  importance,  and,  indeed,  taken  alone, 
more  apt  to  muddy  the  reader's  point  of  view  than  to 
clarify  it. 

The  crying  need  has  been  for  authentic  information. 
Without  that  there  has  been  little  hope  of  establishing 

*  Americanization  Studies,  Carnegie  Corporation,  Harper  & 
Brothers,  1921. 

220 


APPENDIX  E 

a  sound  basis  from  which  one  might  deduce  and 
progress.  The  need  has  been  for  studies  by  experts 
which  would  cover  all  the  essential  phases  of  the  sit- 
uation and  which  could  be  thoroughly  relied  upon. 
Strangely  enough,  considering  the  now  chronic  furore 
over  Americanization,  no  such  series,  even  in  part, 
was  obtainable  until  just  a  few  months  ago.  Now, 
however,  we  are  able  to  turn  to  the  eleven  books, 
though  some  of  them  are  still  in  the  process  of 
publication,  of  the  Americanization  Studies  conducted 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Carnegie  Corporation. 

This  survey  of  the  Americanization  field  was  started 
about  three  years  ago  under  the  directorship  of  Allen 
T.  Burns,  who  has  remained  to  edit  and  supervise  the 
final  results  of  the  findings.  Upon  the  original  invita- 
tion of  the  Corporation,  a  committee  consisting  of  the 
late  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Professor  John  Graham 
Brooks,  Dr.  John  M.  Glenn,  and  John  A.  Voll  has 
acted  in  an  advisory  capacity  to  the  director.  An 
editorial  committee  composed  of  Dr.  Talcott  Williams, 
Dr.  Raymond  B.  Fosdick,  and  Dr.  Edwin  F.  Gay  has 
read  and  criticized  the  manuscripts.  Each  volume  ap- 
pears under  the  name  of  the  author,  who  had  immediate 
charge  of  the  particular  field  it  is  intended  to  cover. 
It  is  worth  while  to  run  through  the  list. 

The  logical  starting-point  will  be  "0/d  World  Traits 
Transplanted,^'  by  Professors  Robert  E.  Park  and 
Herbert  A.  Miller,  for  through  this  book  we  shall  get 
something  more  than  a  glimpse  of  the  various  immi- 
grant backgrounds.  It  is  essential  that  we  know  what 
a  man  has  come  from  if  we  would  know  what  he  is 
is  going  toward,  and  in  this  volume  we  shall  find  not 
only  a  discussion  of  racial  characteristics,  but  also  in- 
dications of  the  tendency  of  these  traits  to  transplant 
themselves  to  America  and  to  become  a  part  of  our 

This  does  not  purport  to  be  in  any  sense  a  bibliography  of 
Americanization  material.  It  is  in  fact  merely  the  reprint  of  a 
review  of  this  particular  series  I  wrote  for  the  New  York  Evening 
Post.  The  series  is  so  valuable,  however,  that  I  have  no  hesi- 
tation in  recommending  it  as  a  groundwork  for  the  student  in 
this  field.— E.  H.  B. 

2ZI 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

own  heritage.  From  here  to  ^^ America  via  the  Neigh- 
borhood,^^ by  John  Daniels,  is  no  great  step.  It  is  the 
immigrant  in  his  relationship  to  the  community  that 
concerns  us  specifically,  and  we  are  able  to  see  the  old 
world  traits  functioning  as  direct  contributions  to  the 
national  life.  The  reaction  of  the  immigrant  to  the 
community  and  the  reaction  of  the  community  to  him 
are  observed  carefully  and  with  many  precise  examples 
noted.  In  all  of  these  books  there  is  material  for  the 
statistician  and  for  the  lay  reader,  but  as  they  are 
intended  primarily  for  the  general  public,  there  is 
little  or  nothing  that  is  not  readily  comprehensible  to 
anyone.  *^ America  via  the  Neighborhood^^  is  an  all- 
embracing  title,  for  if  America  is  to  be  reached  at  all, 
it  is  in  just  this  way.  To  ascertain  as  exactly  as  may 
be  what  the  immigrant  brings  to  the  process  is  of 
fundamental  importance.  Growing  out  of  this  study 
quite  naturally  comes  ^* Schooling  the  Immigrant,^'  by 
Frank  V.  Thompson,  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools, 
Boston.  And  here  is  lamentation!  The  schooling  of 
fhe  immigrant  is  largely  a  problem  in  adult  education 
tor  which  there  is  little  provision  in  our  much-boasted 
school  system,  and  the  results,  in  this  instance,  can  be 
more  easily  described  than  imagined.  What  the  im- 
migrant needs  and  what  he  is  able  to  get  are  separated 
by  a  wide  gulf,  and  the  type  of  education  given  him 
by  some  of  those  interested  in  inculcating  their  own 
particular  ideas  for  their  own  particular  ends  is  some- 
times amazing.  Education  and  the  industrial  complex 
are  nearly  related,  so  that  *^ Adjusting  Immigrant  and 
Industry,^^  by  William  M.  Leierson,  chairman  of  the 
Labor  Adjustment  Board  of  Rochester,  follows  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course.  As  the  greater  part  of  unskilled 
labor  in  America  is  immigrant,  there  are  a  multitude 
of  sins  and  not  a  few  virtues  comprised  under  this 
title.  Indeed  the  scope  of  the  inquiry  here  sug- 
gested is  so  great  that  this  book  alone  might  almost 
be  taken  as  the  focusing  point  of  the  whole  study. 
If  the  "adjustment"  implied  is  accomplished  the 
problem    of    Americanization    will     be     considerably 

222 


APPENDIX  E 

more  than  half  solved.  It  is  primarily  requisite  that 
the  student  of  this  subject  digest  well  the  industrial 
phase  of  the  question.  Not  entirely  unrelated  to  this 
is  A  Stake  in  the  Land,''  by  Peter  A.  Speek,  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  Slavonic  Section  of  the  Congressional 
Library.  Especially  in  view  of  Commissioner  General 
of  Immigration  Husband's  newly  projected  plans  for  a 
back-to-the-land  movement  for  immigrants,  this  book 
is  of  significance.  Incidentally,  it  is  charmingly 
written,  with  an  understanding  not  only  of  the  problem 
itself,  but  of  the  human  element  involved  that  makes  it 
doubly  readable  and  valuable.  ''New  Homes  for  Old,'' 
by  S.  P.  Breckenridge,  Assistant  Professor  of  House- 
hold Administration  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
touches  on  a  very  vital  factor,  and  one  which  is  far  too 
little  understood  or  even  regarded  by  the  average 
Americanizer.  ''Immigrant  Health  and  the  Com- 
munity," by  Michael  M.  Davis,  until  recently  director 
of  the  Boston  Dispensary,  and  now  on  the  staff  of  the 
Survey,  is  self-explanatory.  This  matter,  as  all  others 
affecting  the  immigrant,  touches  our  national  welfare 
directly  and  acutely.  "The  Immigrant  Press  and  Its 
Control,"  by  Professor  Park,  while  exceedingly  un- 
fortunate in  the  last  word  of  its  title,  is  of  value  and 
interest.  Here,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  we  are  able 
actually  to  analyze  the  foreign-language  press,  that 
enormously  influential  factor  in  assimilation.  If  this 
book  had  been  accessible  two  years  ago,  A.  Mitchell 
Palmer  would  hardly  have  been  so  prolific  of  misstate- 
ments regarding  the  immigrant  press,  and  his  opponents 
would  have  had  valuable  information  for  lack  of  which 
they  often  suffered.  "The  Immigrant's  Day  in  Court," 
by  Kate  Holladay  Claghorn,  instructor  in  the  New 
York  School  of  Social  Work,  deals  with  a  condition  or 
set  of  conditions  which  militate  strongly  against  any 
equipoise  between  the  native  and  the  foreign  born 
The  systematic  exploitation  of  the  alien  because  of 
his  inability  to  speak  English  and  because  of  his 
lack  of  knowledge  of  American  legal  procedure  serves 
to  alienate  where  it  should  create  a  bond  of  sympathy. 

15  223 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Here  is  an  essential  lesson  to  be  learned.  '* Americans 
by  Choice  J  ^  by  John  P.  Gavit,  will  provide  what  is 
logically  the  last  link  in  the  chain,  and  is  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  final  book  of  the  series,  the  ^^ Summary, '^ 
by  Allen  T.  Burns,  editor-in-chief. 

NOTE  2 
Selective  Reading  List 

Schooling  of  the  Immigrant. 

Frank  V.  Thompson,  Supt.  Public  Schools,  Boston. 
America  Via  the  Neighborhood. 

John  Daniels. 
Old  World  Traits  Transplanted. 

Robert   E.    Park,    Professorial   Lecturer,    University   of 
Chicago. 

Herbert  A.  Miller,  Professor  of  Sociology,  Oberlin  College. 
A  Stake  in  the  Lxind. 

Peter  A.  Speek,   in  charge,  Slavic  Section,  Library  of 
Congress.  • 
Immigrant  Health  and  the  Community. 

Michael  M.  Davis,  Jr.,  Director,  Boston  Dispensary. 

New  Homes  for  Old. 

Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge,  Professor  of  Social  Economy, 
University  of  Chicago. 
Adjusting  Immigrant  and  Industry  (In  preparation). 

William   M.    Leiserson,    Chairman,    Labor    Adjustment 
Board,  New  York. 

^'  The  rmmigrant  Press  and  Its  Control. 

Robert   E.    Park,    Professorial    Lecturer,    University   of 
Chicago. 
The  Immigrants  Day  in  Court  (In  preparation). 
Kate  Holladay  Claghom,  Instructor  in  Social  Research. 
New  York  School  of  Social  Work. 
Americans  by  Choice  (In  preparation). 

John  P.  Gavit,  Vice-President,  New  York  Evening  Post. 
Summary  (In  preparation). 
Allen  T.  Bums,  Director,  Studies  in  Methods  of  American- 
ization. 

The  Inter  church  Report  on  the  Steel  Strike  of  i  gig. 

(Harcourt,  Brace  Co.). 
Public  Opinion  and  the  Steel  Strike. 
(Harcourt,  Brace  Co.). 

224 


APPENDIX  E 

The  Rights  and  Duties  of  American  Citizenship, 
W.  W.  Willoughby. 

America  in  the  Making. 
Lyman  Abbott. 

The  Americans  Creed  in  the  Making. 
Matthew  R.  Andrews. 

American  Commonwealth. 
James  Bryce. 

The  New  American  Citizen. 
Charles  F.  Dole. 

Community  Civics. 
Jessie  Field  and  Scott  Nearing. 

Civics  for  New  Americans. 
Mabel  Hill  and  Philip  Davis. 

The  American  Idea  Expounded  by  American  Statesmen. 
J.  B.  Gilder. 

Preparing  for  Citizenship. 
Wm.  B.  Guitteau. 

Teaching  of  Citizenship. 

Edwin  H.  Hughes. 
Citizenship  and  Schools. 

J.  W.Jenks. 
Ckir  America. 

John  A.  Lapp. 
Civics  for  Americans  in  the  Making. 

Anna  A.  Plass. 
The  Immigrant,  an  Asset  and  a  Liability 

Frederic  J .  Haskin. 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science:  Annals. 

March  1909,  v.  32,  p.  373-379,  Influence  of  Immigration 

on  Agricultural  Development.    J.  L.  Coulter. 
Forum,  Jan.  iSg^,  v.  14,  p.  600-607. 

What  Immigrants  Contribute  to  Industry.    G.  F.  Parker. 
Immigrants  in  American  Review,  Jan.,  igi6,  v.  i,  p.  46-^0. 

Good  Citizenship — the  product  of  giving  as  well  as  re- 
ceiving.   C.  H.  Caffin. 
Missionary  Review,  Nov.,  igig,  v.  42,  p.  8^g-844. 

America's  Debt  to  Immigration.    Mrs.  E.  C.  Waid. 
Review  of  Reviews,  March,  igoj,  v.  55,  p.  ^ig-;^28. 

Why  We  Need  the  Immigrant.    W.  S.  Rossiter. 
The  Immigrant  Invasion. 

Frank  Julian  Warne. 
The  Settlement  Idea. 

Arthur  C.  Holden. 

225 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZAT  ION 

Immigration. 
Henry  Pratt  Fairchild. 

Immigration  and  Labor. 

Isaac  P.  A.  Hourwich. 
The  Old  World  in  the  New. 

E.  A.  Ross. 
The  Immigrant  and  the  Community. 

Grace  Abbott. 
The  Immigration  Problem. 

].  W.  Jenks  and  W.  Jett  Lauck. 

National  Conference  of  Social  Work,  Proceedings,  igi8, 
V.  45,  p.  4^2-7.  Foreign-Bom  Citizens  as  Political  Assets. 
Graham  Taylor. 

Literary  Digest,  Oct.  15,  79/7,  v.  55,  p.  104.    As  to  foreign- 
born  subscribers  to  the  first  Liberty  Loan. 
Investigation  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 

A  First  Book  in  English  for  Non-English  Speaking  Adults. 

Published  by  Chicago  Ass'n  of  Commerce,  10  So.  LaSalle 

St.    Frances  K.  Wetmore,  Supervisor  of  Day  Classes  for 

Adult  Foreign-bom. 
Rehabilitation    Monograph,     Unit    Course — English    i — IV 

Washington    Govemment    Printing    Office,     issued    by 

Federal  Board  of  Vocational  Education. 

Primer  for  Foreign-speaking  Women,   igi8.     Calif.  Comm. 

of  Immigration  and  Housing. 

Mrs.  Amanada  Matthews  Chase. 
Americans  by  Adoption. 

Joseph  Biegler  Husband. 

Pilgrims  of  To-day. 

Mary  H.  Wade. 
State  Americanization,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  Bulletin, 

iQig,  No.  77. 

Fred  Clayton  Butler. 

Community  Americanization  No.  76. 

Fred  Clayton  Butler. 
Americanization,  July,  igig,  v.  I,  p.  6. 

The  other  side  of  Americanization. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education.    List  of  References  on  Education 

for  Citizenship  (Library  Leaflet  No.    10,  March,   1920). 
First  Steps  in  Americanization. 

John  J.  Mahoney  and  C.  M.  Herlihy. 
Americanization. 

Royal  Dixon. 
The  Invisible  Censor. 

Francis  Hackett. 

2l6 


APPENDIX  E 

Americanization. 
Winthrop  Talbot. 

Americanization. 
Eli  Mayer. 

Americanization. 
Carol  Aronovici. 

Immigration  and  Americanization. 
Philip  Davis  and  Bertha  Schwartz. 

The  Soul  of  an  Immigrant. 
Constantine  M.  Panunzio. 

The  Making  of  a  Nation. 
Went  worth  Stewart. 

Essentials  of  Americanization. 
Emory  S.  Borgardus. 

American  Democracy  and  Asiatic  Citizenship, 
Sidney  L.  Gulick. 

On  Becoming  an  American. 
Horace  J .  Bridges. 

Americanization.    N.  Y.,  H.  W.  Wilson  Co.,  191 7  (Handbook 

Series). 

Winthrop  Talbot. 
Training  Teachers  for  Americanization.     U.   S.   Bureau   of 

Education.    Bulletin,  1920,  No.  12. 

J.J.  Mahoney  and  others. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  igi8,  Bulletin,  No.  18. 
Ideals  in  America. 

By  various  Authors. 
American  Political  Ideals. 

John  Fiske. 
American  Citizenship. 

David  J.  Brewer. 

Moral  Basis  of  Democracy, 
Arthur  I.  Hadley. 

The  Coming  People. 

Charles  F.  Dole. 
What  is  America? 

E.  A.  Ross. 
Teaching  American  Ideals  through  Literature,  Bulletin,  igi8 

No.  32. 

Henry  Newman. 

Carnegie  Library,  Pittsburgh,  Foreign-Born  Americans,  igii. 
Aids    in   Library    Work   with   Foreigners,    igiz,    American 

Library  Ass'n  Publishing  Board,  78  E.  Washington  St., 

Chicago.    Marguerite  Reid. 

227 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

A  Bibliography  for  social  workers  among  foreign-born  resi- 
dents of  the  U.  S.,  ig2o,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  600  Lexington  Ave., 
New  York. 
Elsie  M.  Rushmore. 

Bulletin  of  Russell  Sage  Foundation  Library,  No.  41,  June, 
IQ20.    Immigrant  Backgrounds. 

Immigrant  Publication  Society,  241  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 

Cz  ECHOSLO  VAKS — 

Bohemia  Under  Hapsburg  Misrule. 
Thomas  Capek. 

The  Slovaks  of  Hungary. 
Thomas  Capek. 

Bohemia  and  the  Czechs. 

W.  S.  Monroe. 
Who  are  the  Slavs — 2  vol. 

Paul  L.  Radosavljevich. 

Czechoslovaks  in  America — 
Rekindled  Fires. 

Joseph  Anthony. 
The  Czechs  in  America. 

Thomas  Capek. 
The  Slovaks  of  Cleveland. 

Eleanor  Edwards  Ledbetter. 
The  Czechs  of  Cleveland. 

Eleanor  Edwards  Ledbetter. 

Dutch — 

Dutch  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 
P.  H.  Hough. 

Home  Life  in  Holland. 
O.  S.  Meldrum. 

Dutch  in  America — 
Outbound  Road. 
Arnold  Mulder. 

Finns — 

Finland  and  the  Finns. 

Arthur  Reade. 
Finland  To-day. 

George  Renwick. 
Letters  from  Finland. 

Rosalind  Travers. 
Finland. 

Ernest  Young. 

228 


APPENDIX  E 

Germans — 

German  Life,  in  Town  and  Country, 

W.  H.  Dawson. 
Jorn  Uhl. 

Gustav  Frenssen. 
Home  Life  in  Germany. 

Cecily  U.  Sidgwick. 

Germans  in  America — 

The  German  Element  in  the  U.  S. — 2  vol. 

A.  B.  Faust. 
Reminiscences — 3  vol. 

Carl  Schurz. 
On  Two  Continents. 

Marie  Hansen  Taylor. 

Hungarians — 

Hungary  and  the  Hungarians. 
W.  B.  Forster  Bovill. 

Austro-Hungarian  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Francis  H.  E.  Palmer. 
Budapest,  the  City  of  the  Magyars. 

F.  Berkeley  Smith. 

Hungarians  in  America. 

The  Magyars  of  Cleveland. 

Huldah  E.  Cook 
Joseph  Pulitzer. 

AUeyne  Ireland. 
Hungarians  in  the  American  Civil  War. 

Eugene  Pivany. 

Italians — 

Immigrant  and  Library. 

John  Foster  Carr. 
Italian  Helps,  with  lists  of  selected  books,  published  by 

Immigrant  Publication  Society,  241  Fifth  Avenue. 

John  Foster  Carr. 
Home  Life  in  Italy. 

Lena  Duff-Gordon. 
Italian  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Luigi  Villari. 

Italians  in  America — 

A  Guide  to  the  U.  S.  for  the  Italian  Immigrant. 
John  Foster  Carr. 

229 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Our  Italian  Fellow  Citizens. 

Francis  E.  Clark. 
Imported  Americans. 

Broughton  Brandenburg. 
The  Italians  of  Cleveland. 

C.  W.  Coulter. 

The  Italian  Immigration  of  our  Times. 
Robert  F.  Foerster. 

The  Italian  in  America. 

Eliot  Lord  and  others. 
Sons  of  Italy. 

Antonio  Mangano. 
Italian  Women  in  Industry. 

Louise  C.  Odencrantz. 
A  Schoolmaster  of  a  Great  City. 

Angelo  Patri. 

Social  and  Religious  Life  of  Italians  in  America. 
E.  C.  Sartorio. 

The  Italian  on  the  Lxind  {N.  J.) 
Emily  F.  Meade. 

U.  S.  Labor  Bureau  Bulletin,  No.  70,  pp.  473-533- 
Emily  F.  Meade. 

Annals  American  Academy,  March,   igoq — The   Italian  as 
an  agricultural  laborer. 
Alberto  Pecarini. 

Jews — 

Jews  in  Many  Lands. 
E.  N.  Adler. 

The  Polish  Jew. 
Beatrice  C.  Baskerville. 

History  of  the  Jews  in  Russia  and  Poland. 
S.  M.  Dubnor. 

The  Jews  of  Russia  and  Poland. 

Israel  Friedlander. 
The  Modern  Jew. 

Arnold  White. 

Jews  in  America — 

The  Promised  Land. 
Mary  Antin. 

The  Russian  Jew  in  the  U.  S. 

Chas.  S.  Bernheimer. 
Out  of  the  Shadow. 

Rose  Cohen. 

230 


APPENDIX  E 

An  American  in  the  Making. 

M.  E.  Ravage. 
From  Alien  to  Citizen. 

Edward  A.  Steiner. 
My  Mother  and  I. 

E.  G.  Stern. 
History  of  the  Jews  in  America. 

Peter  Wiemik. 

Jugoslavs — 

Tales  of  Serbian  Life. 

Ellen  C.  Da  vies. 
Servia  and  the  Servians. 

Chedomil  Mijatovich. 
Who  are  the  Slavs?  2  vol. 

P.  R.  Radosavljevich. 

Jugoslavs  in  America — 

The  Jungoslavs  of  Cleveland. 
Eleanor  E.  Ledbetter. 

Lithuanian — 

Peasant  Art  in  Russia. 

Charles  Holme,  ed. 
The  Resurrected  Nations. 

Isaac  Don.  Levine. 
Stakes  of  the  War. 

Lothrop  Stoddart. 

Poles — 

Poland  and  the  Poles. 

A.  Bruce  Boswell. 
Poland,  the  Knight  among  Nations. 

Louis  E.  Van  Norman. 
Poland  of  To-day  and  Yesterday. 

Nevin  O.  Winter. 

Poles  in  America — 

The  Poles  of  Cleveland. 

Chas.  W.  Coulter. 
Michael  Heilprin  and  his  Sons. 
Gustav  Pollak. 

Peasants  in  Exile. 

Henry  K.  Sienkiewicz. 
The  Polish  Peasant  in  Europe  and  America,  5  vol. 

W   L  Thomas  and  Florian  Znaniecki. 

231 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Roumanians — 

Domestic  Life  in  Roumania. 
Dorothea  Kirke. 


Russians — 

Little  Grandmother  of  the  Russian  Revolution. 

Catherine  Breshkovsky. 
When  I  was  a  Boy  in  Russia. 

Mokrievich  V.  K.  Debogorii. 
Russian  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Francis  H.  E.  Palmer. 
The  Village. 

Ernest  Poole. 
Home  Life  in  Russia. 

Angelo  S.  Rappaport. 
Life  Story  of  a  Russian  Exile. 

Marie  Sukloff. 
The  Russian  Empire  of  To-day  and  Yesterday. 

Nevin  O.  Tchekov. 

Scandinavians — 

Arne. 
Bjomsteme  Bjomson. 

The  Great  Hunger. 

Johan  Bojer. 
Danish  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

Jessie  Brochner. 
Home  Life  in  Norway. 

H.  K.  Daniels. 
Denmark  and  the  Danes. 

W.  J.  Harvey  and  Christian  Reppien. 
Swedish  Life  in  Town  and  Country. 

O.  G.  von  Heidenstam. 
Peasant  Art  in  Sweden,  Lapland  and  Iceland. 

Charles  Holme,  ed. 
Scandinavia  of  the  Scandinavians. 

H.  G.  Leach. 
In  Viking  Land. 

W.  S.  Monroe. 

Scandinavians  in  America — 

The  Scandinavian  Element  in  the  U.  S.,  igi4  (Illinois  Uni- 
versity.   Studies  in  the  social  sciences,  v.  3.  No.  3). 
Kendric  Charles  Babcock. 

232 


APPENDIX  E 

The  Making  of  an  American. 

Jacob  A.  Riis. 
History  of  Scandinavians  and  Successful  Scandinavians  in 

the  U.  S. 

Olof  N.  Nelson. 

Ukrainians — 

Peasant  Art  in  Russia, 

Charles  Holme,  ed. 
Resurrected  Nations. 

Isaac  Don.  Levine. 
A  Girl  in  the  Carpathians. 

Menie  Muriel  Norman. 
Ukraine,  the  Land  and  its  People. 

Stephan  Rudnitsky. 
Stakes  of  the  War. 

Lothrop  Stoddard. 

Supplemental  List 

New  Americans  in  their  Old  Homes — 
The  Heart  of  the  Balkans. 
Mrs.  Demetra  Vaka  Brown. 

The  New  Eastern  Europe. 
Ralph  Butler. 

Old  Homes  of  New  Americans. 

Francis  E.  Clarke. 
Peasant  Art  of  Austria  and  Hungary. 

Charles  Holme. 
Dictionary  of  Races  or  Peoples. 

U.  S.  Immigration  Commission. 

In  America — 

The  Immigrant  and  the  Community. 

Grace  Abbott. 
20  Years  at  Hull  House. 

Jane  Addams. 
They  who  Knock  at  our  Gates. 

Mary  Antin. 
Ckir  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens. 

Emily  Balch. 
Races  and  Immigrants  in  America. 

J.  R.  Commons. 
With  Poor  Immigrants  to  America. 

Stephen  Graham. 

233 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

The  Life  Stories  of  Undistinguished  Americans  as  Told  by 

Themselves. 

Hamilton  Holt. 
Americans  by  Adoption. 

Joseph  Husband. 
Our  People  of  Foreign  Speech. 

Samuel  McLanahan. 

Leadership  of  the  New  America. 

Archibald  McClure. 
The  Old  World  in  the  New. 

E.  A.  Ross. 
On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant. 

Edward  A.  Steiner. 
From  Alien  to  Citizen. 

Edward  A.  Steiner. 

Immigrant  Tide  ,Its  Ebb  and  Flow. 

Edward  A.  Steiner. 
Nationalizing  America. 

Edward  A.  Steiner. 


234 


APPENDIX  "F' 


NOTE  I 

Percentages  of  the  Foreign-born  Population  and   Illiteracy 
Percentages  by  States  according  to  the  1920  Census  Returns. 


Percentage  of 
Foreign  born 
Name  of  State  of  total  Pop- 

ulation 1920 

New  England — 

Maine 14.01 

New  Hampshire 20 . 6 

Vermont 12.6 

Massachusetts 28 . 3 

Rhode  Island 29 . 2 

Connecticut 27.7 

Middle  Atlantic — 

New  York 27.3 

New  Jersey 24 . 

Pennsylvania 16.4 


Percentage  of 

Illiteracy 
of  total  Po 
ulation 


fop- 
1920 


51 
4.6 


East  North  Central — 

Ohio 12 

Indiana 5 

Illinois 19 , 

Michigan 20 , 

Wisconsin 17. 


2  8 
2.2 

3-4 
3.0 
2.4 


West  North  Central- 
Minnesota  20 

Iowa 9 

Missouri 5 

North  Dakota 20 

South  Dakota 13 

Nebraska 12 

Kansas 6 


1.8 

3.0 
2. 1 

1-7 
1.4 
1.6 


South  Atlantic — 

Delaware 10. 

Maryland 8.4 

District  of  Columbia 8.7 

Virginia 1.9 

West  Virginia 4.4 

^35 


5  9 
5.6 
2.8 
1 1 .2 
6.4 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 


Percentage  of 
Foreign  born 
Name  of  State  of  total  Pop- 

ulation 1920 

South  Atlantic — Continued. 

North  Carolina .4 

South  Carolina .7 

Georgia i . 

Florida 6. 


East  South  Central — 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Alabama 

Mississippi 


West  South  Central- 
Arkansas 

Louisiana 

Oklahoma 

Texas. 


.8 


I . 

2.1 
9. 


Percentage  of 

Illiteracy 
of  total  Pop- 
ulation 1920 


13. I 
18. I 

9.6 


8.4 
10.3 
16. I 
17.2 


9.4 

21.9 

3.8 

8.3 


3 
5 
I 

2 
5.6 


Mountain — 

Montana 17 

Idaho 9 

Wyoming 13 

Colorado 12 

New  Mexico 9 

Arizona 26 

Utah 12 

Nevada 21 

Pacific — 

Washington 18. 

Oregon 13. 

California 20 . 

It  will  be  observed  that  a  high  percentage  of  foreign  born 
does  not  by  any  means  imply  an  equally  high  percentage  of 
illiteracy  with  the  possible  exception  of  one  or  two  border  States 
where  there  are  many  Mexicans. — E.  H.  B. 


5  9 


1.7 
1.5 
3  3 


NOTE  2 

The  Foreign  Born  and  the  Third  Liberty  Loan 

The  records  in  the  Third  Liberty  Loan  of  the  various 
nationalities  are  significant  only  in  so  far  as  they  show 
a   relationship   between   the   representation   of  each 

236 


APPENDIX  F 

linguistic  group  in  our  population  and  their  propor- 
tionate or  disproportionate  percentage  response  to  the 
loan.  In  column  i  is  seen  the  percentage  in  the  for- 
eign population  of  certain  leading  groups  of  our  im- 
migrants, and  in  column  2  the  actual  number  of  each, 
and  in  column  3  the  amount  each  group  subscribed  to 
the  third  loan.  The  total  amount  subscribed  by  Amer- 
icans of  foreign  descent  is  $741,437,000.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  this  amount  was  subscribed  by  7,061,305 
individuals,  which  represented  4i>^  per  cent  of  the 
total  number  of  subscribers. 


Foreign  Group 

Percent  Per  Capita 

in  Foreign  Bonds            Bonds 

Population  Number            Taken            Taken 

Scandinavian — 

Swedes 4.5  i  ,455,869  $6,01 1 ,600    4.10 

Norwegians 3.1  1,009,854     5,987,550     5.92 

Danes 1.4  446,473     2,353,950     5.27 

Latin  and  Greek — 

Italians 6.7  2,151,42252,247,35024.28 

Greeks 0.4  130,379    6,638,70050.80 

French 4.2  1,357,169     2,107,850     1.55 

Portuguese 0.4  141,268     1,711,150  12. 11 

Roumanians 0.2  51 1 124        272,100     5.30 

Slavic  and  Lettic — 

Poles 5.3  1 ,  707 ,040  37 » 583 ,  700  22 . 01 

Bohemian,  Czechs.       1.7  539,39231,750,55058.86 

Bulgarians o.i  19,320            2,100       .10 

Slovenians 0.6  183,431     1,569,900    8.50 

Russians 0.3  95»i37     2, 599 , 600  27 . 50 

Ukrainian-Ruthens     o .  i  3  5 » 3  59         1 29 ,  500     3 .  66 

Serbians o.i  26,752         142,150     5.31 

Croatians 0.3  93,036         153,900     1.66 

Lithuanian-Lettish      0.7  211,235     4, 3 74, 500  20 . 70 

Germanic — 

Germans 28.5  8,817,271  87,295,000    9.90 

Dutch-Frisians ...       i .  o  3  24 ,  930          80 ,  200       .  24 

Flemish 0.1  44,806        875,000  19.25 

(From  Bridging  the  Atlantic,  by  Professor  Sarka  B.  Hrbkova.) 

237 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

NOTE  3 

Citizenship  Status  of  the  Foreign  Born 

(Statement  issued  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Census,  Jan.  1 1,  1922) 

The  total  foreign-bom  white  population  of  the  United  States, 
which  numbered  13,712,754  in  1920,  included  12,498,720  persons 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  over,  of  whom  6,208,697,  or  prac- 
tically half,  were  naturalized.  Wide  differences  in  citizenship 
status  appear  among  the  natives  of  the  various  foreign  countries, 
the  proportions  naturalized  among  those  twenty-one  years  of 
age  and  over  ranging  from  74.4  per  cent  for  the  Welsh  to  5.5 
per  cent  for  the  Mexicans.  For  the  five  countries  which  con- 
tributed the  largest  numbers  of  immigrants  the  prcentages 
naturalized  were  as  follows :  Natives  of  Germany,  73.6;  of  Ireland, 
66.1 ;  of  Russia,  42.1 ;  of  Italy,  29.8;  and  of  Poland,  28.9. 

The  natives  of  these  five  countries  formed  more  than  half  the 
total  foreign-born  white  population  of  the  United  States  in  1920. 
Limiting  the  comparison  to  persons  twenty-one  years  of  age 
and  over,  the  natives  of  Germany  numbered  1,648,884;  of 
Italy,  1,408,933;  of  Russia,  1,211,337;  of  Poland,  1,048,050; 
and  of  Ireland,  i  ,02 1 ,677. 

Of  the  total  white  population  twenty-one  years  of  age  and 
over,  22.7  per  cent  were  immigrants  and  11.3  per  cent  were 
naturalized  immigrants.  Thus  in  the  white  population  of  voting 
age  there  were  146  naturalized  immigrants  to  every  i  ,000  natives. 

The  foreign-bom  white  population  comprised  7,528,322  males 
and  6,184,432  females,  of  whom  6,928,452  males  and  5,570,268 
females  were  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  over.  Among  the  men 
who  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one,  47.8  per  cent  were 
naturalized,  and  among  the  women  above  the  same  age  limit, 
52  per  cent.  Under  the  provisions  of  the  naturalization  laws  at 
the  time  the  fourteenth  census  was  taken,  the  citizenship  status 
of  a  married  woman  is  the  same  as  that  of  her  husband  (although 
if  the  husband  had  taken  out  his  first  naturalization  papers  only, 
his  wife  was  classified  in  the  census  returns  as  an  alien) ;  for  an 
unmarried  woman  the  process  of  naturalization  is  the  same  as 
for  a  man;  a  forien-bom  widow  or  foriegn-bom  divorced  wife 
of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  retains  the  citizenship  status  of 
her  former  husband  so  long  as  she  continues  to  reside  in  this 
country,  and  a  foriegn-born  widow  or  foreign-born  divorced 
wife  ot  an  alien  may  become  naturalized  in  the  same  manner 
as  a  man. 


238 


APPENDIX  F 

NOTE  4 
Ethnic  Colonization 

(Reference:    Commons,  1920  Edition.) 

75%  Russians  (mainly  Jews)  live  in  cities, 

20%  Norwegians. 

33   1/3%  Swedes-Danes- Welch-Swiss. 

40%  English-Scotch. 

50-50%  Germans-Austrians-Bohemians-Poles. 

66  2/3%  Irish- Italians. 

New  York — 

German  population 78$  ,035,  (same  as  Hamburg). 

Native  element 737 ,  477 

Irish  population 7 10, 5 10,  (twice  as  many  as  Dublin). 

Two  and  one-half  times  as  many  Jews  as  Warsaw  one-half 
as  many  Italians  as  Naples. 

Sixty-six  languages  spoken  in  New  York  City. 
(Reference:      13th  Census — 19 10.) 
Cleveland — 

Total  population 79^ » 835 

Foreign  population 518,421 

German 1 49 ,  742 

English  and  Irish 109 , 1 14 

Polish 48 ,  525 

Czech 46 ,  296 

Slovak 20 ,  977 

Hungarian 31, 628 

Jewish 30 ,  768 

Italian 2,3  , 1 58 

Jugoslav 19,33^ 

Lithuanian 5  ,  600 

Russian 2 ,  000 

Finnish i ,  000 

Chicago — 

Census  1910 29.6%  were  of  German  descent 

[[      19^0 140% 

1910 500,000 

1920 400,000 

Austrians  in  Chicago — 

Census  19 10 227,958 

1920 57,696 

This  change  is  due  to  the  revision  of  the  European 
map,  which  caused  numerous  changes  of  allegiance. 

Italians  in  Chicago — 

City  Census  1916 16,918 

1920 20,639 

i«  239 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

Memphis,  Tennessee — 

7,000   Italians.     Of  these   780  own  real  estate  valued  at 
$10,945,610. 

(Reference:     Park  and  Miller, 
Old  World  Traits  Transplanted.) 
Jews — 

92%  of  all  Jews  found  in  twelve  States. 

Poles-- 

Between  four  and  four  and  one-half  million  in  United  States. 
Large  colonies  at  Greenpoint  and  Williamsburg,  New  York. 

Jugoslavs — 

Big  concentration   in  California.     Fishing  and   restaurant 
trades. 

Additional  Data  Obtainable 

Commons,  Races  and  Immigrants,  p.  7 1 . 

Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United  States  (19 10),  Vol.   i,  p.   130. 
Jenks  and  Lauck,  Immigration  Problems,  p.  482. 
Report  of  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  3,  pp.  409,  426. 
Annual  Report  of  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  to 
the  Secretary  of  Labor,  year  ending  June  30,   19 19,  Table  10. 


NOTE  5 
Congestion  in  Cities 

(Reference:     Commons,  Races  and  Immigrants 
in  America,   1920  Edition.) 

3<?  Cities  of  100,000  Population  or  Over — 

Total  population 14 ,  208 ,  347  100% 

Native  White 4,245,817  29% 

Native  White,  Foreign  Parent ....      5  ,  280, 186  34% 

Foreign  White 3 ,972 ,  324  28% 

Population  of  Entire  Country — 

Native  White 40,958,216  100% 

Living  in  cities 4 ,  245  ,817  10% 

Naturalized  White,  Foreign  Parent.  1 5  ,  63 7 , 063  1 00% 

Living  in  cities 5,280,186  33% 

Foreign  White 10,213,817  100% 

Living  in  cities 3,972,324  39% 

240 


APPENDIX  F 

Citizens  of  Native  Parentage — 

In  cities 3®% 

Outside  cities 59% 

Foreign  Parentage — 

In  cities 65% 

Outside  cities 2,7% 

Native  population  of  Fall  River 14% 

Native  population  of  New  York  and 

Chicago 21  % 

Total  population  of  Cleveland 796,835     100% 

Of  Foreign  Descent 518,421       65% 

Of  entire  Jewish  population  in  ten  cities,  2 ,  367 ,  42 1       65  % 

are  concentrated.     Of  200,000  Slovenes  in  the  United  States, 
30,000  are  in  Cleveland. 


NOTE  6 
Three  Types  of  Colonization  in  Cities 

Urban  Colony — Composed  entirely  of  natives  of  one  foreign 
country.     Very  common. 

(Reference:    Daniels,  America  via  the  Neighborhood.) 

Examples : 

Pittsburgh  (Steel)        Jugoslavs 78,000 

Lithuanians 75 ,000 

Poles 43  ,  000 

Scranton  (Mining)       Poles 25 ,000 

Ukrainians 10,000 

Lawrence  (Textiles)     Lithuanians 10,000 

Poles 3 ,  800 

Russians i ,  500 

Lowell  (Textiles)          Poles 7 ,  500 

Italians i  ,000 

Ukrainians 2 ,  500 

Chicago  (Stockyards)  Czechs 100,000 

Slovaks 20,000 

Germans 171,681 

Italians 75 ,000 

Poles 366 ,  000 

Cosmopolitan  Colony — Very  rare.  Tendency  to  racial  col- 
onization too  strong  to  allow  promiscuous  mixture  of  aliens. 
Example : 

Tampa,  Florida — Small  colony  of  Russians  (92)  have 
colonized  with  Scandinavians. 

241 


ASPECTS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

3.     Predominatingly  American — Small  mixture  of  aliens.  Usually 
in  small  cities  where  there  are  no  serious  social  or  financial 
difficulties.     Occurs  where  a  member  of  the  foreign  colony 
becomes  prosperous,  speaks  English,  and  moves  out. 
Example : 

Any  better-class  section  of  a  city. 

Additional  Data  Obtainable 
Commons,  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America,  p.  160. 
Report  of  Immigration  Convnission,  Vol.  3,  p.  420. 
Jenks  and  Lauck,  Immigration  Problem,  chapter  VIII;  also 
p.  4^7. 


Note  to  Page  60 

The  agricultural  condition  of  the  Jews  mentioned  on  page  60 
has  somewhat  recently  undergone  a  marked  change.  The  report 
just  issued  of  the  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Society 
states  that  while  twenty-two  years  ago  there  were  only  216 
Jewish  farm  families  in  the  United  States,  the  number  today 
exceeds  60,000.  In  1900  the  total  acreage  owned  by  Jewish 
farmers  was  1 2,029,  while  today  more  than  i  ,000,000  acres  are 
farmed  by  Jews. 


242 


INDEX 


/  am  greatly  indebted  to  the  kindness  of 
Miss  Dorothy  Rolfe  for  the  compilation  of 
this  Index.  E.  H.  B, 


Agricultural  labor,  59-60 
Alien  Property  Custodian: 

J  ugosla V  case,  1 84- 1 86 
Armenians : 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  207 
American  Association  of  Foreign-Language  Newspapers: 

Americanization,  107 
American  Defense  Society: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
American  Legion: 

Americanization:  12,   loi,   117 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  105,  116 
American  Organizations: 

Service  to,  198-201  ^ 

American  Press,  195-198 

American  Protective  League.    See  Loyal  American  League 
American  Red  Cross,  52,  76,  95 
American  schoolgirl : 

Point  of  view  on  Slavs,  216 
Americanism : 
100%,  122 
Americanization : 
American  Association  of  Foreign-Language  Newspapers,  107 
American  Defense  Society : 

Member,  National  American  Council,   1 10 
American  Legion: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  no 
Work,  1 1 7 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  105,  116 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States : 
Confidential  instructions,  11 7-1 18 
Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Cleveland  Americanization  Committee,  54 
Constitutional  Defense  League: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Czechoslovaks,  52-53 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution : 
Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Views,  1 1 4-1 15 
Daughters  of  181 2: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 

245 


INDEX 

Americanization — Continued: 
Definition,  1 20-1 21 
Dutch,  51 
Finns,  51-52 
Germans,  52 
Hungarians,  54 
Industry,  93,  94,  98 
Inter-Racial  Council : 

Aims  and  purposes,  106-108 

Member,  National  American  Q)uncil,  1 10 
Italians,  54 
Jugoslavs,  53 
KuKluxKlan: 

Platform,  1 1 6 
Labor,  94 
Lithuanians,  50-51 
Loyal  American  League : 

Policy,  I  lo-i  12 
Magazine  of,  54 
Meaning  of,  24 

Methods  by  employers,  67-70,  93-94,  98 
National  American  Council : 

Coordinate  Americanzation  work,  1 10 
National  Security  League : 

Attempts  to  repress  Socialism,  109 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  program,  105 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants: 

Program,  105-106 
Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce : 

Letter  to  business  houses,  1 19 
San  Francisco  Chamber  of  Commerce : 

California  campaign  of  United  Americans,  113 
Scandinavians,  51 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  no 
Ukrainians,  51 
United  Americans: 

California  campaign,  113, 

Development,  1 1 3-1 14 

Origin,  1 1 3 
Veterans  of  Foreign  Wars : 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 

Policy,  1 1 2 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association : 

Policy,  102-105 
What  is,  152-158 
Americanization,  Pseudo-,  93-123 
Americanization  Series: 
Review  of,  220-224 

246 


INDEX 

Army: 

Allotment  case,  180-181 

Czechoslovaks  in,  96 

Hungarians  in,  96 

Italians  in,  96 

Jews  in,  96 

Jugoslavs  in,  96 

Lithuanians  in,  96 

Poles  in,  96 

Russians  in,  96 

Ukrainians  in,  96 
Assimilation.     See  Americanization 
Assyrians : 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  208 
Austrians: 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 

Number  in  Chicago,  239 


Barr,  William  H.,  107 
Belgians : 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  208 
Bibliography,  224-234 
Bohemians  : 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 

See  also  Czechoslovaks 
Books  on  Americanization,  220-234 
Brewer,  Chauncey,  106 
Bridging  the  Atlantic,  25,  30,  61,  66 
Bulgarians : 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  236 


C 

Carnegie  Series,  220-224 

Celtic  population,  25 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States: 

Confidential  instructions,  1 17-1 18 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Chinese : 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  208 
Citizenship.     See  Naturalization 
Constitutional  Defense  Leag[jie: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Coolidge,  Calvin,  1 10 

247 


INDEX 

Croatians : 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
See  also  Jugoslavs 
Croatian  Singing  Society,  185-186 
Czechoslovaks : 

Americanization,  52 
Army,  96 
Books  on,  228 
Cleveland,  239 
Immigration: 

Deportation,  125 

Reasons  for  leaving,  88 
Industry,  241 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
"  4th,  96 
Naturalization : 

Naturalization  case,  180-181 

Work  of  Czechoslovak  Legion,  192 
Organizations: 

American  Red  Cross,  52 

Represented  at  Independence  Day  celebration,  208 
Persecution,  97 
Press: 

Analysis,  75-76 

Publications,  1 70-1 71 
See  also  Bohemians 

D 

Danes: 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 

Immigration : 
Reasons  for  leaving,  88 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  208 

Press : 

Publications,  170 

See  also  Scandinavians 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  i  lo"^ 

Views,  114-115 
Daughters  of  181 2: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Dillingham  Law.     See  Immigration 
DuPont,  Coleman,  106 
Dutch: 

Americanization,  51 

Books  on,  228 

Liberty  Loans : 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 

248 


INDEX 

Dutch — Continued: 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  208 
Press : 

Publications,  170 


Education: 

Attitude  of  employers,  33-34 

German  Language  Federation  of  Socialist  Party,  52 

Jugoslavs: 

Parochial  schools,  53 
Lithuanians : 
Desire,  32 
Night  schools,  50 
Press  as  means  of  education,  32 
Night  schools,  29-30 
Raids,  40 

Rand  School  of  New  York,  36 
Russians: 
Attempt,  38 

Enrollment  in  schools,  37-38,  40 
Parochial  schools,  38 
Russian  Church  attitude,  37 
Russian  Collegiate  Institute,  37 
Russian  Educational  Conference,  3  5 
Russian  People's  University,  35-36 
Society  for  Technical  Help  to  Soviet  Russia,  36-37 
Suggestions,  28-30 

Work  in  Detroit,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  Waterbury,  37 
Ellis  Island.     See  Immigration 
Ellis,  Wade  Hampton,  1 15-1 16 
Employers : 

and  Americanization,  93-94,  98 
Attitude  on  education,  33-34 
and  Income  tax,  42,  44,  46 
English : 

Ethnic  colonization,  25,  239 
Ethnic  colonization,  25,  235 
Ethnological  Divisions,  25 
European  countries: 
Contract,  201-205 
Press,  202-203 


Finns: 

Americanization,  51-52 
Books  on,  228 
Immigration: 
Reasons  for  leaving,  88 

24Q 


INDEX 

Finns — Continued: 

Occupations  and  centers,  62 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  20S 
Press: 

Loyalty,  73 

Publications,  170 
Flemish : 

Liberty  Loan: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Foreign-bom    population: 
Illiteracy,  80 
Number,    80,     1 68 

See  also  Foreign  Language  Information  Service,  Work  of 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service: 

Work  of,  1 59-205 
Foreign-Language  Press: 

American  Association  of  Foreign-Language  Newspapers,  107 
Americanization,  72-79 
Analysis : 

Class,  81,   171 

Circulation,   80,    170 

Material  used,    176 

Number,   80,    1 70-1 71 

Period  of  publication,  81,  171 
Czechoslovak : 

Analysis,  75-76 
Dutch: 

Loyalty,    73 
Finnish : 

Loyalty,    73 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service,  169-178 
German: 

Analysis,  74-75 
Government  material,  82-83,  174-175 
Hungarian : 

Analysis,     76-77 
Immigration: 

Editorials  on,  218-219 
Italian: 

Analysis,  77 
Jugoslav : 

Analysis,  76 
Liberty  Loans: 

Space  given  to,  76 
Lithuanian : 

Analysis,  77-78 
Means  of  reaching  immigrant,  86 
Scandinavian : 

Loyalty,  73 

250 


INDEX 

Foreign-Language  Press — Continued: 
Tendency : 
General,  173 

War,  during  and  after,  8i-86 
Trading  with  Enemy  Act,  84 
Ukrainian : 

Analysis,  73 
U.  S.  Committee  on  Public  Information,  82 
War  Savings  Stamps : 
Space  given  to,  76 
Form  1078,  44,  91 
Form  1 1 15,  45 

Fourth  of  July,  191 8,  20,  207-212 
French : 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions   to    3rd,    237 
Organizations: 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 
French  Canadians : 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 


Galbraith,  Frederick  W.,  no 
Germanic  population,  25 
Germans : 

Americanization,  52 
Books  on,  229 
Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Naturalization  statistics,  238 
Occupations  and  centers: 

Farmers,  60 

New  York,  239 

Stockyards,  241 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 
Press: 

Analysis,  74-75 

Editorials  on  3%  Law,  218-219 

Publications,  170 
Government  Cooperation,  166-168 
Greeks : 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 

Population,  25 

251 


INDEX 

H 

Harding,  Warren,  G.,  no,  113 
Hill,  David  Jayne,  1 10 
Home  ownership,  66 
Hungarians : 

Americanization,  54 
Army,  96 
Books  on,  229 
Immigration: 
Aquitania  incident,  127-129 
Reasons  for  leaving,  90 
Liberty  Lxjans: 

Contributions  to  4th,  96 
Occupations  and  centers: 
Cleveland,  239 
Farmers,  60 
Miners,  63 
Press: 

Analysis,  76-77 
Publications,  170 
Husband,  W.  W.,  137 

I 

Illiteracy,  235-236 
Immigration: 
Committee  to  investigate  ports  of  entry,  137-140 
Dillingham  Law :  1 24- 1 3  7 

Action  of  Congress,  1 36 

Admission  by  bond,  1 29- 1 3 1 

Aquitania  incident,  127-129 

Eastern  Galicia,  132-133 

Editorials,  218-219 

Extract  from  law,  132 

Hardships  caused,  124-125  1 29-1 31 

Jugoslavs,  133-135 
jthuanians  131 
Poles,   132 
Quotas,   2 1 7 
Restriction,   124-136 
Ruling  passed,  92 
Steamship  lines,   125-126 
Ukrainians,  1 31-133 
Ellis  Island: 
Committee  recommendations,  138-140 
Faults  with,  141- 144 
Service  necessary  for  immigrants,  144-148 
Steamship  companies,  1 3  5 
Income  tax: 
Cases,   188-190 
Employers,  42,  44,  46 
False  interpretation,  46 

252 


INDEX 

Income  tax — Continued: 

Foreign  Language  Information  Service  work,  166-167 

Form  1078,  44,  54,  91 

Form  1 1 15,  45 

General,  42-49 

Law,  42 

Methods  of  collection,  42 

Overtaxing,  45 

Refunds  claimed,  65 

Revenue  Bill,  19 19,  43 
Independence  Day,  19 18,  207-212 
Individual  service  work: 

Foreign  Language  Information  Service,  178-190 
Industry:  56-71 

Americanization  work  in,  98 

Isolation,  56 

Occupations,  59 

Unionization,  94 

Unions : 
Membership  in,    58-59 

Unorganized  labor,  56 
Interpretative  work  with  native  bom: 

Foreign  Language  Information  Service,  194-198 
Inter-Racial  Council: 

Aims  and  principles,  106-108 

Member,  American  National  Council,  1 10 
Irish: 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 

in  Cleveland,  239 

in  New  York,  239 

Naturalization  statistics,  238 
Italians: 

Americanization,  54 

Army,  96 

Books  on,  229-230 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 

Imimgration: 
Reasons  for  leaving,  89-90 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Contributions  to  4th,  96 

Naturalization  statistics,  238 

Occupations  and  centers :  64 
Chicago,  239 
Cleveland,  239 
New  York,  239 
Stockyards,  241 
Textile  industry,  241 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 

253 


INDEX 

I  talians — Continued: 
Press: 

Analysis,  77 
Pulications,  171 

J 

Japanese: 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  1 21-122 
Jews: 

Army,  96 

Books  on,  230-231 

Occupations  and  centers: 

Cleveland,  239,  240 

Farms,  60 

New  York,  239 
Press: 

Editorial  on  3%  Law,  218-219 

Publications,  171 
Jugoslavs: 

Alien  Property  Custodian,  184-186 

Americanization,  53 

Army,  96 

Books  on,  231 

Immigration: 

Action  of  Jugoslav  government,    125 

Dillingham  Law,    133-135 

Reasons  for  leaving,  88-89 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  4th,  96 
Occupations  and  centers: 

California,  240 

Cleveland,  239 

Steel   industry,   241 
Organizations : 

Croatian  Singing  Society,  186-187 
Press: 

Analysis,  76 

Publications,  171 
Social  problem,  186-187 
Justice,  Department  of.     See  Persecution 

K 

Kellor,  Frances,  106 
Knights  of  Columbus,  12,  77 
Komensky  Education  Society,  75 
Koster,  Frederick  J.,  114 
KuKluxKlan: 

Americanization  platform,  1 1 7 

254 


INDEX 


Labor  and  americanization,  94 
Latin  population,  25 
Lectures  : 

Foreign  Language  Information  Service,  192 
Lettic  population,  25 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  236-237 
Contributions  to  4th,  96 
Support  needed,  20,  95 
Lithuanians : 
Army,  96 

Army  allotment  case,  182-184 
Books  on,  23 1 
Colonies,  61 
Education : 

Night  schools,  50 
Immigration: 
Dillingham  Law,  1 3 1 
Reasons  for  leaving,  87 
Income  Tax,  167-168 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Contributions  to  4th,  96 
McNaughton's  Farmer's  Union,  60 
Occupations  and  centers,  61-62 
Cleveland,  239 
Steel  industry,  241 
Textile  industry,  241 
Organizations: 

Americanization,  51 
Independence  Day  celebration,  209 
Press: 

Analysis,  77 
Means  of  education,  32 
Publications,  171 
Living  budgets,  66 
Location  of  relatives : 

Foreign  Language  Information  Service  work,  202-203 
Loyal  American  League,  i  lo-i  12 


M 

Melting  Pot,  16 

Michigan  Agricultural  College,  37-38 
Minor,  Mrs.  George  Maynard,  1 1 5 
Moravians.     See  Czechoslovaks 

17 


INDEX 

N 

National  American  Council : 

Membership,  no 

Officers,  no 
National  Security  League : 

Member,  National  American  Council,  no 

Y.  M.  C.  A..  105 
Naturalization: 

Case,  1 80-1 81 

Citizenship  statistics,  $$,  238 
Norwegians: 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 

Immigration: 
Reasons  for  leaving,  88 

Occupations  and  centers,  62 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 

Press: 

Publications,  171 

See  also  Scandinavians 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants: 

Activities  and  purpose,  loi,  105-106,  213-216 


O 

Occupations,  59,  241 
Organizations : 
American: 

Service  to,  198-201.    ^ee  also  Americanization 
Foreign-language : 

Inquiries,  190-194 

Number,  1 90-1 91 

Represented  at  Independence  Day  celebration,  208-210 

during  War,  96 
Orth,  Charles  D.,  no 


Palmer,  A  Mitchell,  98,  99,  100,  109,  no 
Persecution : 

Czechoslovak,  97 
Justice,  Dept.  of,: 
Attitude,  22 
Raids,  40 

Russians,  22,  23,  32 
See  also  Palmer,  A.  Mitchell 
Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce: 
Letter  to  business  houses,  1 19 

256 


INDEX 

Poles: 
Army,  96 
Books  on,  23 1 
Education,  33 
Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Immigration: 

Dillingham  Law,  132 
Income  tax,  189 
Liberty  Loans : 

Contributions  to  3rd,  239 
Naturalization  statistics,  238 
Occupations  and  industries: 

Cleveland,  239 

Mining  industry,  241 

Steel  industry,  241 

Stockyards,  241 

Textile  industry,  241 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 
Press : 

Publications,  171 
Population  and  illiteracy,  235-236 
Portuguese : 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  209 
Postal  Savings,  66 

Press.     See  American  Press  and  Foreign-Language  Press 
Pseudo-Americanization,  93-123 


Revenue  Bill,  19 19,  43 
Roberts,  Peter,  102,  103,  104,  105 
Roumanians : 
Books  on,  232 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  210 
Russians: 
.Army,  96 
Books  on,  232 
Education,  35-41 
Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Immigration : 

Reasons  for  leaving,  90-91 
Income  tax,  189 
Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Contributions  to  4th,  21,  96 

257 


INDEX 

Russians — Continued: 
Naturalization  statistics,  238 
Occupations  and  centers,  64-65 

Cleveland,  239 

Tampa,  241 

Textile  industry,  241 
Organizations: 

Independence  Day  celebration,  210 

xSee  also  Russians — Education 
Persecution,  15,  22-23 
Press : 

Publications,  171 
Russian  Jews,  59 

8 
Scandinavians : 

Americanization,  51 

Books  on,  232-233 

Colony,  Tampa,  241 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 

Population,  25 

Press : 

Loyalty,  73 

See  also  Danes,  Norwegians,  Swedes 
Scotch: 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Selective  reading  list,  224-234 
Serbians : 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Sheppard,  Mrs.  FinleyJ.,  no 
Shiels,  Albert  E.,  no 
Silesians.     See  Czechoslovaks 
Slavic  population,  25 
Slovaks : 

Cleveland,  239 

Occupations,  63,  241 

Publications,  171. 

See  also  Czechoslovaks 
Slovenes : 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 

See  also  Jugoslavs 
Social  problem,  186-187 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution : 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  1 1 5 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
South  Slavs: 

Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  210 

258 


INDEX 

St reychmans,  Felix  J . ,  2 1 1  -2 1 2 
Swedes : 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Immigration: 

Reasons  for  leaving,  88 
Occupations  and  centers,  60,  62 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  210 
Press : 

Publications,  171 
See  also  Scandinavians 
Swiss : 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Organizations : 

Independence  Day  celebration,  210 


Tod,  Robert,  1 40-1 41 
Trading  with  Enemy  Act,  84 


Ukrainians: 

Americanization,  51 

Army,  96 

Books  on,  233 

Immigration: 
Dillingham  Law,  131,  132,  133 
Reasons  for  leaving.  87-88 

Liberty  Loans: 

Contributions  to  3rd,  237 
Contributions  to  4th,  96 

Occupations  and  centers,  62,  241 

Persecution,  15 

Press: 

Number,  73 
Publications,  171 
United  Americans: 

California  campaign,  1 1 3 

Development,  11 3-1 14 

Origin,  113 


Veterans  of  Foreign  Wars: 

Member,  National  American  Council,  1 10 
Views  on  Americanization,  1 1 2 

259 


INDEX 
w 


Wages,  65-67 
Welch: 

Ethnic  colonization,  239 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  210-21 1 


Young  Men's  Christian  Association: 
Americanization,  10 1 -105;  109,  116 
Support,  12,  J7,  95 


260 


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